Some secrets are worth sharing
by Nepeace
Summary: It's Valentines day, but the day does not go as planned. In fact it goes much like the rocky start of their relationship were things didn't go as planned either. JJ/Emily
1. Chapter 1

Some secrets are worth sharing 

**Title:** Some secrets are worth sharing  
**Author:** **Nepeace**  
**Fandom:** Criminal Minds  
**Pairing:** JJ/Emily  
**Rating:** PG13  
**Notes:** Written for **picfor1000**. A picture of Krispy Kreme doughnuts is what brought this story on.

**Summary:** Valentines day doesn't start exactly as planned for JJ and Emily.

Reid leaned back in his chair; his eyes flew over the pages of one of the standard issue FBI file folders. Morgan was sitting at his desk talking on the phone; judging by his flirty tone of voice he was talking with a woman. Reid was watching his co-worker with envy he sometimes wished that he was socially more like Morgan since it would make it easier to talk to people especially with woman. At that moment Morgan shifted and sat back up, he said his goodbye's and placed the phone back on the table. His eyes roamed around the room, he could see Rossi standing in Hotch's office probably discussing their newest case. He had already taken a look at the file before the weekend, it had been a case JJ had been watching for a good week hoping that the local police would be able to solve it with the profile the team had compiled for the local police. Unfortunately the killing spree had escalated which forced JJ to call them all into the office. Since he already knew the case better then any other person on the team at this moment he had time to let his minds drift away while they waited on Emily who had been stuck in a traffic jam.

He was still watching Rossi in Hotch's office when suddenly the door next to it opened in one swift movement. JJ stepped outside and leaned against the railing which divided the offices from the open area, watching her as she stood there her eyes surveying the room all Morgan could think was that he hoped that JJ was not searching for him. The wrath of a woman could scorn a man and by the looks of it someone was in trouble, big trouble. JJ's bright blue eyes scanned the room and Morgan unwillingly let a sigh of relief escape his mouth when her eyes passed him and moved on.

***

Emily stepped into the elevator; balancing her Styrofoam mug in one hand while she put away her car keys. She tried to push the button, she was relieved when a fellow agent helped her out; "BAU, right?" He asked before he pushed the button and moved to the back of the elevator. Emily smiled at him thankfully and grabbed the phone which was vibrating in her bag, this day was not getting any easier. She had hoped that she would have the weekend off, but psychopaths did not just take the day off because it was the weekend. Unfortunately she had no choice but to go in to work when she picked up her phone that morning whether it was a Sunday or not.

There had been a pile-up on her way over and it took her a lot longer then expected to arrive at Quantico. She sighed, she had a whole day planned and working a case had certainly not been part of that. She had been so happy when they managed to wrap their case up on Friday evening and their plane landed in DC minutes before the clock read midnight.

She quickly left the elevator when it finally reached it's destiny. She was glad when an agent held the glass doors open which gave access to the BAU. Emily resumed her path towards her desk but she had barely made it inside the office when her name was called out by JJ; "Prentiss, my office now!"

JJ quickly spun around on her heels and strode back into her office, unable to keep her face straight any longer. She made a point of standing in the middle of her darkened office with her back towards the door opening. Emily looked up and swallowed hard; she had no idea what was going on. She quickly tried to recall any events that could cause JJ to talk to her this way, but apart from being dauntless when they captured their unsub on Friday evening she could not imagine why JJ would act this way. After all if that had bothered her so much she would have said something on their flight back. 

Emily quickly proceeded walking towards her desk, where she dropped her bag on the floor and placed the Styrofoam mug on the table. All eyes in the room were focused on her, Emily looked at Morgan and Reid who both shrugged apologetically since they had no idea what was bothering the blond media liaison. Emily tried to walk towards JJ's office with her dignity intact but that was easier said then done. She entered the office trying to forsee what would happen in the next few minutes. She watched JJ's straight back and her crossed arms in front of her chest; her body language a clear sign of her apparent anger.

"Close the door." JJ commanded softly, the anger suddenly subsided from her voice and features. Emily complied and when she turned back towards the younger woman she was surprised when JJ was suddenly standing in front of her with a sly grin on her face merely inches between them.

"Happy valentines day, Emily." JJ seductively smiled while she presented her lover with a Kripy Kreme Valentines dough-nut, the heartshaped one with the bringht white, pink and red sprinkles. "I know it's not much, but since I had to call the team back in this was all I could take with me from my original plan."

"Damn JJ, I thought that you were mad at me." Emily said with a smile.

"Me, why would I be mad at you? Do I have a reason to be mad at you?" JJ questioned Emily raising her brow at the other woman.

Emily smiled; "No, there is no reason to be mad at me."

"Good, because I want to have a chance to show you what I had envisioned for the rest of the day." JJ said while she leaned in and kissed the other woman.

"Happy valentines day, Jennifer." Emily said to her lover.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: I am so happy with the super sweet reviews I received after posting the 1000 word fic which I had written for the picfor1000 challenge on lj. It was kind of nerve wrecking to post my first fic for this fandom and I am glad that it was received so well. The reviews really made me think of turning this into a real fic instead of just a one-parter, and in order to do that I took a couple of days to figure out what I wanted for this fic. **

**Chapter 2**

_****Flashback****_

Ever since she was teenager she wanted to get out of East Alleghany, the faster she could get out of the small town the better it would be. She couldn't remember a time where she didn't feel like the small town mentality was suffocating her. She tried to get out as fast as she could, and a scholarship to the college of her choice was the fastest way. Becoming a FBI agent had been the path she wanted to pursue for herself, her parents didn't approve of her choice. Especially since they felt like they where loosing yet another daughter, this time though it hadn't been a suicide which took her away from her parents. They were loosing her to the outside world, the world beyond the small town pursuing a job which put her in danger instead of embracing small town life where her husband would provide for her while she raise the children at home.

But that was not what JJ had in mind for her own future, in fact her job had always been more important then her personal life after all she was young and she had a goal she wanted to reach. In her eyes there would be enough time left to pursue other things in life. First she wanted to be the best at what she did and being the media liaison of the BAU was what she wanted. She wanted to work with legends like Gideon and Hotch and despite the often horrendous nature of the cases they worked she found pride when the families of the lost ones could find some form of closure when their team caught the unsub.

While she had declined Hotch's offer to follow the profiler training she often did wonder about the unsubs behavior; what drove them to their horrendous acts of violence. Was it their past, the way they grew up, had they never known anything but violence or did something just made them snap. She knew that her closest friends and colleagues possessed the ability to study these people and get inside their minds to find that one clue which could lead them to the unsub and in her years of being a FBI agent she too had learned a thing or two about the mind of a killer. But never in her life could she imagine to ever kill someone herself; that was until she had Henry. When he was born she swore that she would always keep him safe from harm and that if anyone tried to harm him she would go to extremes to safe her little pride and joy. He wasn't supposed to know the dreadful things his mother saw on a daily bases.

Having Henry had changed her perspective; she was now convinced that every person in the world could turn into a killer if the conditions where threatening enough to make them snap. And here she was standing in the garden of her supervisors house talking to his small son who was thanks to the quick thinking of Hotch safe from harm and had no idea what really happened in the house behind them. How Foyet had killed his mother while his father and his team listened over the radio until the dreadful sound of the gun hand cut Haley's life short. And how his father had beaten Foyet until Morgan pulled him off the lifeless body. Hotch snapped; his life, which had already crumbled had now fallen apart completely by the hands of another human being. And there she stood in the bright sun, in a beautiful garden with a little boy who was proud that his daddy told him to work the case with him and that he did a good job. A stark contrast with the scene inside the house that he once called his home. JJ smiled at him as best as she could under the circumstances and told him that he had been a good junior agent and that they could use such brave boys at the FBI. Jack beamed at her compliment, nodded his head and smiled brightly.

The day Haley Hotchner passed away would forever be the day that changed the teams dynamic. From that day on; even though no one would say it out loud there would be the time before Foyet and the time after. Even more so then with the departure of Elle and the disappearance of Gideon the team changed. And unknown to the others that was the day that JJ made a choice regarding her own life; she had to figure out what she wanted; where she expected her life to go and especially who would be with her.

Seeing what happened to Hotch and his family made her realize how fragile life could be and she didn't want to waste any more time. Either she could settle for what she had or she could pursue what she wanted and possibly get burned in the process. JJ couldn't just continue living the life she had seemingly settled for when she realized how easily it could all be taken away in a mere second, she knew that the choice was in her hands and her hands only.

At first JJ struggled to make a choice; deep in her heart she already knew what she wanted but she was not quite ready to admit it out loud. And she knew that there would be consequences, not just for her but also for the people around her, who in this case were innocent bystanders and she was still coming to terms with the fact that she was no longer the only person who would be affected by her choices. There was Will of course and then there was Henry, could she pursue the alternative of what she had now knowing that her choice in one way or another would affect the life of her young son.

JJ knew what she wanted but actually getting to the point where she was going to take actions to pursue that goal took her a while. Making a decision and actually following through were two completely different things. She knew that if she followed through she would need someone who knew what was going on; someone to fall back on if she needed too, someone who would be there for her regardless the outcome.

**A review is a writers' best guide, please let me know what you think of my story. **


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

JJ finally came to the conclusion that if she wanted her life to change she would have to take the first step. And that way of reasoning was what made her visit her best friend; "Garcia, can we go for a drink later, if we aren't called away on a case?" JJ asked when she had barely opened the door to the techs' lair.

"Oh, JJ I thought you would never ask!" Garcia exclaimed happily while she turned around in her chair and looked up at the younger woman. Due to her own relationship with Kevin and JJ and Will having Henry 'girls night out' had been reduced to every once in a while, and the last time had been way too long ago. She kept the smile on her face, but she couldn't hide the worry which was visible in her eyes. "We should ask Emily to come with us." Garcia suggested, hoping that she was reading JJ wrong and that the other woman wanted to go for a drink and have a girl's night out for old time's sake.

"Uh… no, can't it just be… me and you?" JJ said softly, her voice barely audible while the usually well spoken JJ stumbled over her words not able to form a complete sentence. "You know how you asked me if I believed that everything happens for a reason when you met Kevin. After … you know you were shot?" JJ asked, thinking back of the moment when she had been so scared to loose her best friend, and Emily had been there. Of course Emily had been there for the same reason as she and their other team members, but in that moment it felt like Emily was solely there to support her.

"So the nature of this invitation is not a funky girl's night out, but a night filled with advice from the omniscient one?" Garcia said keep her smile firmly in place but the worries filled her mind even more. Today would be a long day she knew that much, a long day worrying about her young friend. Now even more then before she knew that something was bothering JJ or she would not have asked her for her advice. JJ usually kept her personal problems and worries private and dealt with them in her own way. But then again usually JJ usually never wore her heart on her sleeve.

JJ smiled; "Yes, that would be the meaning behind my invitation. I need help; I need someone I can rely on." And with that confession she quickly left the small room and retreated to her own office as fast as she could.

She barely left the room all day, except for when she ran out of coffee and she found herself in need of a refill. It never took her more then a few minutes at a time and she never talked to anyone. Though she did notice the worried looks her team members send her way; she chooses to ignore them all. Especially those coming from Emily she was afraid that she would be the one who would look straight through her facade and JJ was not ready for that. Not yet.

***

Hours later Garcia found herself in the door opening that led to JJ's darkened office. So far she had been standing there unnoticed while she watched her young friend who was half hidden behind several stacks of file folders of pending and recent cases.

She knew that the other woman had been struggling with something and by the looks of the office which was even more cluttered with files then usually; it must have been something big. Something which was consuming JJ in a huge way, Garcia tried to remember when she had seen the woman smile recently. Other then while she was on the phone talking to her son and listening to his baby talk, she couldn't remember a recent smile gracing the younger womans' face. All of them had been struggling; the horrors of Haley Hotchner's death had impacted them all in one way or another. The whole ordeal had hit JJ harder then the others besides of course Hotch and Jack.

JJ seemed to be lost in thought staring at the picture frame which was placed on the corner of her desk; Garcia knew that it held a picture of Henry. For a second Garcia wondered if JJ was expecting a second child and if that was the reason for her recent mood swings and maybe everything was happening too fast for JJ's liking. Or maybe ... Garcia's breath hitched at the mere thought; maybe something was the matter with young Henry, she quickly pushed that thought from her mind it would break her heart if the little boy was sick. But it would explain a lot of the behavior JJ recently had been portraying around the office.

Garcia knew that she was driving herself crazy with the way her mind was rolling through one possible scenario after another. She raised her hand and knocked on the wooden door frame forcing a smile on her face while she watched JJ's head snap up in her general direction; "Hey Gumdrop, you ready to go?" She asked in her usually chipper tone of voice.

JJ rubbed her eyes and got up; she slowly let her eyes move over the stacks of folders on her desk and the chair on the other side of her desk. She sighed deeply before she grabbed her bag; "Yes, I am ready I am sure that this will all be here in the morning when I come back."

"Hmm... yes there is no one who secretly comes in at night and continues where we left off, unfortunately." Garcia agreed with a smirk; "Let's go and have that drink, you look like you could use it and in the morning you can worry about this collection of file folders here." Garcia said with a raised eyebrow while she looked at the desk or rather what little part was visible of it from her position in the doorway. JJ made her way around the desk and grabbed her coat from chair and barely got a chance to put it on before she was firmly grabbed by her arm and dragged away from her office, Garcia was relentless today she would find out what was bothering JJ. One way or another she would get answers; tonight. JJ noticed that the office was already empty, which meant that it must have been later then she had presumed it was.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

garcia and JJ reached the elevator in record time and soon they were on their way to one of their favorite bars. It was a place where they would often gather after a particularly hard case to have some time together, and to regain their belief in the good of the world amongst them. If you worked the kind of cases they did you would need that every once in a while. But this time it was just Garcia and JJ who were going to be there, and Garcia was on a mission.

Usually the bar would be filled with people and sometimes there would even be a live band on the small stage in the corner. But not tonight, tonight was a Wednesday night and except for some regulars the bar was deserted.

Garcia chooses a booth in the back of the bar and sits down. She knew that whatever JJ had on her mind was something personal and she wanted to make sure that their conversation could not be overheard by any of the other people in the bar.

As soon as the two of them sat down one of the waitresses approached their table. "It's been a while since I have seen either one of you in here." She said with a smile, more a statement then a question.

"I know." Garcia said with a smile before she turned towards JJ; "See I have been trying to tell you that, even the waitresses noticed. We should really have these girls' nights out more often. We would like to have two beers..." Garcia quickly turned towards JJ; "You can have beer, right?" She asked the younger woman with a concerned look on her face.

"Yes, why would I not be able to have beer?" JJ asked confused as well as surprised by Garcia's question. "Oh... okay, I am not pregnant! I can have beer, I need some liquid courage." She said the first statement sounding loud, obviously a statement of truth, the second part of the sentence died on her lips barely audible.

The waitress nodded and turned around to retrieve their drinks from the bar after which she quickly returned and placed them in front of the two women.

"What's going on?" Garcia asked JJ while she took a sip from her beer, followed by another long drag until she reached the bottom of the glass, and still JJ hadn't said a word. Garcia raised her hand and gestured to the waitress that they needed a refill.

JJ watched her friend, she knew that it was now or never if she backed out now who knew when she would gain enough courage to take a step forward. She took a few minutes to collect her thoughts before she started talking. She knew that Garcia would always be there for her, that she would always have JJ's back no matter what choices she made, because that was just the kind of friend Garcia was. This decision she made meant that she was about to throw her whole life around on a personal as well as a professional level, and that was not something to take lightly. She couldn't help but wonder about the what-ifs and the foreseeable future.

"Haley's death made me realize once more that I don't love Will, not in the way that he seems to love me and certainly not in the way that I should love him. He has asked me several times to marry him, before and after Henry was born but I couldn't..."

"But what does that have to do with Haley's death?" Garcia asked between sips, watching her friend closely.

"I want to spend my life with the person I love. Haley's untimely death made me realize that I am wasting time. I am wasting it in a relationship which for me doesn't hold a future. I feel trapped, like I have to hide part of me." JJ was silent for a few seconds she bit her lip before she continued; "I have wasted a lot of time... maybe even too much already." The last part of the sentence was spoken so softly that not even Garcia was able to hear it.

"If you don't love Will, then who are you talking about?" Garcia asked, for a while now she had her own suspicions about JJ's feelings, but she wanted to hear JJ say it. She believed that this was something someone needed to find out for themselves.

"Will's a great guy and he treats me and Henry well, don't get me wrong about that. He's a really hands on type of guy when it comes to his son and I don't ever want to come between him and Henry. I love him for that but it is not the overwhelming kind of love which is should be." JJ wanted to explain the whole situation to Garcia; she wanted her to know everything there was to know even that she didn't love Will anymore. "Whenever we go on a case I miss Henry terribly and when I get home all I want to do is hold him, shouldn't I feel the same way about Will?" JJ's big blue eyes searched her friends face, hoping to get an answer.

"Yes." Garcia smiled; "Yes, you should feel that way about the man you want to spend your life with. You deserve to have someone around who makes you feel that way." Garcia reached out her hand and placed it on top of JJ's fidgeting hands. "Why did you let it get this far?"

"I know, I never should have let it get this far and it is my entire fault I am aware of that. Sometimes I wish I had never picked up that phone and answered his advances, but then I realize that if it hadn't been for that one phone call Will made to me, Henry wouldn't have been here." JJ stared straight ahead instead of seeing Garcia she saw the memories play out in her minds eye. One memory after another; "During the case in New Orleans I had already noticed the way he looked at me. So I have to admit that I was not at all surprised when he sought contact with me a couple of days after we got back home. I guess that I craved having someone around, as you know maintaining a relationship outside of this job is hard and it had been a while since there had been someone who was interested. He was one of the good guys, he knew what my job was how gruesome it could be, the hours we work. He was convenient... I know it sounds horrible, those are the facts." JJ chuckled but there was no happiness in her laugh. "At first I liked that we didn't live close to each other, it meant that I could have my alone time and the relationship didn't feel like it was suffocating me which had been a problem in previous relationships. If we didn't have a case during the weekend he would fly out to see me or I would go and see him. For a while it worked, it really did."

Garcia smiled; she could understand her friends reasoning it was hard to maintain a relationship. Just look at their team members, Rossi had numerous women in the past, married a couple but none of those lasted. Morgan never had a serious relationship he went from one hot date to another. Reid was a genius but lacked the skill when it came to women. As for Emily, Garcia never even heard the women speak about dating anyone. And then of course Hotch who had recently lost the love of his life to Foyet. Of course she had Kevin, but she could hardly compare her job to the teams' job. She knew the craving feeling JJ was talking about all too well, she had felt it for the longest time. "That was until you found out that you where pregnant." Garcia finished JJ's sentence.

JJ nodded and took another gulp from her beer; "Yes, the second I told him it changed everything. It felt as if everything was spiraling out of control, it was no longer in my hands. Before I knew it he had revealed to all of you during the New York case that I was pregnant and it was as if it was expected of me that I would allow him to move in with me, and share my life with him."

"As unplanned as Henry might have been I love him with all my heart and I can't even imagine or remember what life was without him. I love Will because of that, he gave me the greatest gift anyone could ever give me."

Garcia smiled; "Yes, that little fellow has everyone wrapped around his tiny fingers but what did you expect with that cute smile and those big blue eyes. Even though you have those cute features as well, you still haven't told me who it is you love?"


	5. Chapter 5

AN: Here is a new chapter, I hope you like it! Let me know what you think!

**Chapter 5**

Garcia was not about to let this go, she needed to know if her initial suspicions had been right all along. Had her own mind, induced by the cruel images she saw on a daily basis, what caused her to worry so much about her friend. By now it was already clear that she could safely put all of her previous worries aside; both JJ and Henry were okay. It was just JJ's mixed up feelings which had been weighing her down. Knowing that, made it a little easier for Garcia to breathe, to be quite honest if her suspicions were right it would become increasingly harder to hide her smile.

JJ looked down at the joined hands on the middle of the table; her skin flushed a dark shade of pink. She tried to breathe in and out deeply. "It's... its Emily." JJ said so softly that it was hardly audible. "I... I never ehhm… expected... this to happen, but..."

"I knew it!" Garcia exclaimed in a shrill high pitching tone of voice. All attention in the bar was suddenly shifted towards them; the few other occupants as well as the personnel had their eyes on them.

JJ's head snapped up, her eyes sought out her friend's delighted face. JJ couldn't help but feel a little bit of fatigue and weight leave her body. She released the breath that she unknowingly had been holding. "You knew?"

"Yes." Garcia smiled; "Yes, I knew. I am the omniscient; you can't keep that sort of information from me. Well, not for long anyway, Gumdrop."

"But… how? I am only realizing this myself!"

"Your subconscious mind realized it long before you actually did. Besides you couldn't hide the flirting or the stolen glances from me, if you had even wanted too. That was, until you all of the sudden showed up with Will. You really surprised me, no blindsided me would be a better word, but I guess that I was not the only one who was blindsided by it. I mean we all knew that something was going on, but it wasn't until Will showed up in Miami to identify his friend that we put two and two together. We hardly had anytime to get over that surprise before he revealed your pregnancy to us." Garcia knew that no one on the team had expected that too happen so fast, least of all probably JJ herself. "Honey, believe me I knew."

"But why did you not say anything to me?"

"Jayje, it wasn't my place to tell you that I thought that you were making a mistake." Garcia smiled. "Besides if I had told you that you were making a mistake Henry would not have been here and though he might not have been planned per se…"

"You are right about that. I can't imagine not having Henry around now it seemed as if life was pointless before I had him. Garcia, what am I supposed to do?" JJ asked biting her lip.

"Oh Gumdrop, you should tell her, obviously." Garcia rolled her eyes and smiled while she watched the other woman's reaction.

"I can't... what if... No, I can't."

"Oh no, you can't back out now!" Garcia said, while she tightened the grip she had on JJ's hand. "Since Haley's death, this realization has been dragging you down." Garcia smiled; "They might not have said it to you personally but I know that everyone on the team has been worried about you. Emily included, and it won't take long before she will come to you to talk. Knowing Emily, she has been giving you your space in hopes that you will come to either one of us and tell us what has been going on. How much longer do you want to keep pretending that you're okay?"

"I risk everything, Pen. Everything..." JJ said while she looked up defeated, tears brimming in her eyes. Garcia knew that JJ has been giving this a lot of thought over the last few weeks and she could already imagine what her objections were going to be.

Garcia slid along the booth closer towards JJ, their surroundings forgotten some time ago, she wrapped an arm around JJ; "Jayje, maybe by risking everything, you'll gain everything you have been dreaming about."

"Pen!" JJ whined; "What if I tell her and she decides that she never wants to see me again, ever. I can't afford to risk her job or mine for that matter. And if I tell Will that I don't love him anymore he might take Henry away from me, which is a risk I can't take."

"Jayje, you have to stop this, now." Garcia said sternly, effectively shutting her younger friend up. "You are going to drive yourself crazy, Will is not some horrible monster and Emily she won't run away from you because of a love confession, she is your friend." Garcia reasoned with JJ, she couldn't remember ever seeing the woman this unreasonable before and it just showed her how much pressure the whole situation was putting on her friend. "In fact I think that you might be surprised by her reaction. Remember what one of the first things you noticed about Emily when you met her?"

"That she was gorgeous and that she would not take no for an answer?" JJ asked more then she stated; she smiled at the memory of Emily sitting in Hotch's office waiting for the team to return from their case.

"Well, yes... not quite what I was aiming at but I'll ask the question differently. What did you noticed after working a couple of cases together? Especially after the Henkel case, I know that we have discussed this to great length so I am sure you must remember what I am talking about."

JJ looked up at her friend, the Henkel case was the one she rather forgot about. She still hadn't forgiven herself for what happened to Reid on that day after they split up. "Compartmentalizing..." JJ said softly after what seemed like an eternity.

"I doubt that she will need it, but I am sure that Emily would not run away. She would compartmentalize the situation if she couldn't deal with it any other way, but Jayje I don't think that she will need it. You're both adults I am sure you can deal with it." Garcia smiled; "Have a little faith." Garcia turned around in her seat and waved to the waitress to bring them another refill. "I don't know about you but I can surely use another one of these." She said while she downed the last bit of her beer.

"This is gonna be the last one, I have to get home sooner rather then later. Garcia, as much as I hate to admit it you are right. Will needs to know the truth; I have to be honest with him. I just hope that everything turns out alright."

"Jayje, I am the all knowing." Garcia said with a smile. JJ smiled back, for the first time tonight it wasn't forced.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"Are you sure you don't want Kevin to drive you home?" Garcia asked JJ when Kevin parked the car in front of the two waiting women.

"Yes, I am sure. I will take a cab home, it would be ridiculous if the two of you have to go that far out of your way to bring me home." JJ stepped closer to her friend and hugged her. "Thanks Pen."

"No problem honey, that's what friends are for." Kevin got out of the car and greeted the women after which he asked if JJ wanted a ride home, which she once again declined. He then hailed a cab for her and together with Garcia he watched as the cab drove away.

Thirty minutes later the cab came to a halt in front of her house. JJ paid the cab fee and quickly made her way towards her darkened house. The house she now shared with her boyfriend and son. A lot had changed since the days lived here alone.

Will, choose to leave his job behind in New Orleans when he moved in with her. He had put his spare time to good use by fixing up the house, doing all the chores which JJ always procrastinated on. Though not just the outside of the house had changed, nothing was the way it used to be.

From the beginning of their relationship JJ made it clear that she didn't want to give up her job and Will seemed to have settled with that idea, but JJ knew better. Truth-be-told he seemed content staying at home with their son; lately he had commented about their son being a momma's boy even though he spent more time with his father.

Will had brought up the conversation about her job again even though they had the talk more then once during and after her pregnancy. Nothing had changed when it came to her feelings regarding working for the BAU. JJ knew that she wasn't the only person who was struggling in the relationship but she was convinced that Will loved her.

JJ locked the door behind her and put away her gun and credentials in the safe before she continued up the stairs towards her sons' room. Henry was soundly asleep in his bed but he had shed his blankets away from his feet. JJ smiled, she often found him lying in his bed with the blankets pulled up and snuggled around his body leaving his feet bare. She made sure that the little boy was covered before she left his room.

Soon she found herself standing in front of her own bedroom door. She hesitated before she pushed the handle down and opened the door. She almost sighed in relief when Will didn't respond to her entering the room. She quickly shedding her clothes and put on her night shirt before she slipped between the sheets. The moment she laid down she could feel the movement of Will behind her, her body tensed the moment his arm wrapped around her, and pulled her close to him. She didn't breathe hoping that it was a mere reaction and that Will wasn't waking up, she knew that he would start asking questions. Questions, which she at this moment, didn't want to answer and couldn't answer. For what felt like hours she laid there staring into the dark.

***

"Where were you?"

JJ didn't answer him immediately she hoped that the questions would stop, but she knew they wouldn't. The confrontation was inevitable. "Out..." She answered simply, full well knowing that he would continue to prod her for more details. He was after all a trained detective; he would not be satisfied with her one word answers.

"Out, that is your answer JJ... just out?"

"Yes Will, that is my answer, I was out." She poured her mug full of black steaming coffee. She hoped that it would relieve her headache. She doubted that it would help, especially since she could feel the situation spiraling out of control.

"Do you really think that it is necessary for you to go out? You have been away on a case for four days, you finally return home and the very next day you choose to go out with your team members instead of coming home to your husband and son." Will spoke in a clear tone of voice, but he couldn't hide the anger from his face.

"Now wait a minute, we are not married Will, you are not my husband." JJ was angry.

"That is so not the point here, JJ! I despise the fact that you act as if we don't matter to you, that is what's important here."

"Will, I do care about you, I love Henry you know that." She said in her own defense; "Sometimes a woman needs to talk to another woman. I was with Garcia last night, not all of my team members. You know as well as I that Garcia doesn't go on cases with us and therefore I don't spend as much time with my best friend as I would sometimes like. So, every now and again I will go out with her. You have always known that I am an independent woman and that I need my space, which does not mean that I don't care."

"Maybe that is were the problem lies, you care... but do you love me?"

"Please, Will not now. I have to leave for work soon." JJ pleaded with him, she didn't want to do this. Not right now, and not like this.

"I take that as a no." Will got up from the table and left the room. Seconds later she could hear the front door slam shut.

JJ sighed and threw her hands up in a dramatic gesture. Before she left the kitchen, not knowing where Will went meant that she would have to take Henry with her to work since she couldn't sit here waiting till he came home. She quickly gathered her belongings and brought them out to the car before she returned inside to gather her young son.


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: Thank you for all the really sweet and encouraging reviews I receive, I love them so keep them coming! Here is the next chapter, enjoy reading it! **

Chapter 7

That morning JJ arrived at work with minutes to spare, something which all of her colleagues immediately noticed. She hated it when that happened, her coworkers were profilers and even though they promised not to profile each other out of respect for their privacy it was hard not to use the knowledge they possessed. Even JJ who wasn't a profiler had learned a thing or two over the years and found herself far more perceptive then she ever had been. JJ was never late, usually. That morning she had to drop Henry off at the FBI's daycare facility instead of leaving him at home with Will she was later then usual.

She felt horrible for what happened at home with Will but she knew that she had to give him some space. She knew that he needed time alone to process what happened before he would come to her to talk about it. That was the way it had always worked with Will, he would deal with his problems on his own and once he gathered his own thoughts about it he would be able to talk.

She closed the door to her office behind her, at that moment effectively halting all questions but knowing that it would only be a matter of time. She had avoided meeting any of the curious looks from her colleagues. Privacy was important to JJ, even though she saw her colleagues as family she still needed to have her privacy. Especially because she worked with some of the best profilers in the world, they would never intentionally profile her but being a profiler was part of them and she couldn't imagine how they could not use their knowledge even unintentionally. She knew that they could read her body language no matter how well she tried to hide her true feelings.

JJ sat down behind her desk which was still covered in file folders. She knew that she had enough work to keep herself hidden in her office for days on end. But JJ also knew that most likely one of her colleagues would enter the office soon enough, and if she had to place a bet she was sure that it would be Garcia. She breathed in and out deeply a couple of times trying to settle the nauseating feelings which had settled in her stomach the moment Will walked out the door. She never meant for it to happen this way. She wanted to talk to him face to face, no matter how hard it was to tell him that she no longer loved him the way he loved her she wanted to tell him that while it was just the two of them. So that she could tell him without interruption and not while she was half way out the door to work in the morning.

She decided that giving Will his space at this point was the best thing she could do. She sighed deeply and opened the first file folder on the top of one of the stacks, her eyes quickly flew over the pages while she decided that the police department didn't need their full team to visit. She would hand the folder to Morgan for a consult since it was his area of expertise. She had barely picked up the second file when there was a knock on her door before she had time to answer the door flew open. Immediately followed by the overly cheery voice of her best friend and confidant.

"Good morning Gumdrop, I hope you don't have a headache, like I have." Garcia's smile faltered when she took a first look at her friend; "Oh, you don't look so good, luckily I have brought you coffee, exactly the way you like it. A huge mug of strong coffee in the morning for my Gumdrop." She said while she put a large much in front of JJ with a grant gesture.

JJ smiled weakly, sure she did have a headache but it was more likely to be caused by stress then the alcohol she consumed. "He knows" JJ said barely audible.

"He knows, oh Jayje did you have the talk with him last night after you came home? When I said that you should tell him I didn't mean as soon as you got home. It was so late already." Garcia rambled on worried that she gave JJ the wrong advice. Garcia sat down in the chair in front of JJ's desk after she placed the stack of papers which had been occupying the seat previously on top of another stack of papers. She was glad that her 'babies' held all of her folders, she would go stir crazy if her lair of an office was anything like JJ's. How the woman who seemed so controlled and put together on the outside could work like this was something she could never get used to.

"No, he was asleep when I came home. This morning right before I had to leave he asked me if I found it necessary to go out with my team the day after we arrived home from a case. He claimed that I should spend more time with my son and 'husband', I should have let it go. But I decided to pick a fight with him because I hate it when he assumes that I will be his wife one day. I don't know..." JJ sighed; "It was just the wrong comment at the wrong time. It was the proverbial drop..."

"Oh Jayje, I am so sorry."

"That's not all. It gets worse." JJ sighed; "I told him that I did care for him and he got up and told me that was were the problem started that I just cared for him. And with that he just walked out the door, he didn't seem mad, he was calm as if he somehow suspected or knew. I don't know where he went, I couldn't stop him from going because Henry was still in his crib and I had to go to work. Oh Garcia, I made such a mess of it all." JJ said lamentably barely keeping the tears at bay, part of her sadness was because she knew that she was going to hurt the man who loved her so deeply that he stayed with her through the past couple of years. For the man who never got the love he gave in return. Part of her sadness was for her son who's father would mostlikely move out of his life, probably back to his Southern state of origin. And thirdly because her own conflicting feelings once again made a complete mess of everything which was good in her life.

"Well, I can't really disagree there but JJ it happened and whether he suspects something or not you still need to talk to him. He deserves your honesty."

"I know Garcia, but I also know that right now he needs his space it is his way of dealing with a situation which is out of his control. Garcia could you babysit Henry tonight? I need to talk to him without interruptions." JJ sighed; "If he wants to talk to me that is."

"Are you kidding me, I love to babysit him. Oh you should totally see Kevin with him, sometimes I wonder who is the kid when he is lying belly down on the floor with Henry playing with cars it is so cute." Garcia rambled, glad to see a faint smile appear on her friends face. "I'll tape it for you, it is uber-cute."

"Thanks Garcia, I appreciate it."

"That's what friends are for, sweetie." Garcia said while she got up and without another word she left the room. Knowing that JJ needed her space as well.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Luckily for JJ there was no new case that needed the full teams attention, except for a few consults which could be handled by the profilers individually from their Quantico office, and the fact that she was able to talk Hotch into letting her go home an hour. With Garcia picking up Henry and taking him for the night she was well on her way to have the inevitable talk with Will. A conversation she needed to have but one of many she wasn't looking forward too. The next talk she needed to have would be with her parents, another conversation she wasn't looking forward to having either.

Her parents had instantly liked the Southern man, when she first introduced him to them. She remembered the conversation her parents had when they found out that JJ hadn't said 'yes' when Will asked her to marry him. JJ knew that her parents meant well, and with their almost 40 year marriage they believed that marriage was the path to true happiness.

JJ sighed, she knew that she choose to go the hard way instead of the beaten path which would have been easier, but the hard way was in fact the only way she could go if she wanted to stay true to herself. She knew that Garcia was right she needed to follow her own path, the one which made her happy.

When she rounded the corner to her street part of her hoped to see Will's car in the driveway, but at the same time the other part of her begged for him not to be home yet. Her heart had fallen when she noticed the car parked neatly in the driveway as if everything was the way it was supposed to be. JJ parked her own car behind Will's almost expecting him to come rushing out to tell her that she needed to park her car in the street so that he could leave the house whenever he wanted to, but he didn´t. She knew that the talk they were about to have would be difficult and heartbreaking but she was also well aware that there was no other way to solve the issues she they were having. She didn´t want to lie to him, Will deserved to have someone who loved him with all of their heart and not someone who was rather with someone else.

She also knew that the blame for the whole situation rested on her shoulders and that she would have to come forward with everything. The whole truth for that matter especially if she wanted to have a decent relationship with him for the sake of Henry. For all this time Henry, as bad as that sounded, had been the glue that kept them together. After all if it hadn´t been for her unplanned pregnancy they wouldn´t be living together today. The pregnancy had sped up the whole process of their relationship.

JJ always kept her distance, she was a very private person, she always had been. And like she told Will that night in Miami once she told everyone that he was her boyfriend it would become real and people would get hurt. And before she had never been ready to take that step. With him however once Emily had told her to go for it she did just that. Emily sent her after a man in order to get him back before he left for good, JJ took that as proof that the other woman herself wasn´t interested in her, despite the flirty jokes and antics the two had shared prior to that particular moment. JJ decided in a split second that she would go after Will and get him back; fight for him if she had too he at that point was convenient and available.

A few weeks later when she found out that she was pregnant she saw it as a sign and when she called Will he had immediately decided that he would come to DC and try to find a job here. For a while everything had felt perfect. Now, she was walking towards her own house with lead in her shoes facing the man she once thought she could love, but had to admit that she didn´t. At least not in a way in which he deserved to be loved.

Usually she crossed the distance from her car to the front door in mere seconds today however she was dreading going inside, and it seemed to take her forever. Once she reached the door she turned the knob and found it open, she pushed the door open and stepped inside. The house was dark, none of the lights where on and the sun didn´t seem to penetrate the shadows inside as much as it usually did.

"Will?" She called out his name, her voice faltered for a second. She could hear him rummaging through the bedroom upstairs. She dropped her bag to the floor and hung up her jacket before she made her way towards the stairs. With each step she took it brought her closer to the inevitable. She stood in the door opening and watched as Will put his clothes in a suitcase. "Will, please stop." She asked him with begging eyes. She didn´t want him to leave without talking about this. "We need to talk."

"JJ, it´s best if I am not ho... here tonight." He said without looking up at her.

"Will, please don´t do this. Not this way."

"I think that you made your feelings clear enough this morning, Chére." He said in a sarcastic tone of voice. He was annoyed and angry, he probably wanted to walk away as fast as he could and JJ could understand that but she needed to explain everything to him if only to make him understand.

JJ crossed the room and closed the lid of the suitcase preventing him from putting any more clothes into it while she positioned herself between the suitcase on the bed and Will. "I need to explain to you what´s been bothering me, I need you to know that I care." She breathed in deeply to get rid of the sinking feeling she was having in her stomach. She wanted to be honest, but that was harder then it seemed; "Will, when I first met you I was taken aback by your charming ways and I really was wooed by you. I was flattered when you called me and that first year when we were traveling back and forth between New Orleans and DC I honestly thought that I was in love with you, but with our jobs, the traveling and all I didn't believe that we would last."

"When you all of the sudden were standing in front of me in Miami, I was shocked. I had not expected you to be there. My job and my personal life were suddenly clashing together and I didn't know how to react to that, it scared me because it became so real all of the sudden. I know that I back then pushed you so far that you almost walked away from me, from us. But Will I cared for you so deeply, at that moment I truly believed that I loved you. And when the team found out about our relationship everything became a slippery slope especially since I became pregnant. Before I knew it you were living with me in DC and we were expecting parents. It all seemed to be a natural progress of a relationship but when you asked me to marry you I knew that I wasn't ready for such a huge commitment." JJ sighed, she looked up at Will who was standing in front of her, motionless. If it hadn't been for his eyes ,the windows to his soul, she might have though that he wasn't even listening to her at all.

"That is why I said no to you at that time, but it had nothing to do with you. You are a great guy, and an amazing father to Henry. But you and me, I am sorry but I can't give you all of my heart which really is what you deserve." Tears brimmed in her eyes, threatening to spill; "I am sorry, Will. I do care for you, I even love you but not in the way you deserve to be loved."

"JJ, did you cheat on me?" He asked his voice revealing the pain he wasn't visibly showing her.

JJ looked up at him with her big blue orbs, tears appeared in them; "No. No, Will I could never do that to you. I have not cheated on you."

Will didn't say anything, he just nodded before he turned towards the closet and started picking up clothes again. JJ was still standing in front of the suitcase he gently pushed her aside and flipped the suitcase open again. JJ stepped aside and swallowed hard. "Will, were are you going?"

"I'll be at a Hotel." He answered simply while he placed his clothes in the suitcase before he made his way towards the bath room to retrieve his toothbrush and aftershave. "Where is Henry?"

"Garcia and Kevin are taking care of him, she offered. I didn't want him to be here while I talked to you." JJ swallowed hard, at this moment she was wondering if it really had been the best choice for Henry to be away. It might seem as if she was keeping him away from his father already.

"Good, I don't want him to think that we are mad at him. I know that he is young but you never know what a child might think if he hears his parents fight." Will said softly while he put a couple of things in the suitcase before he closed it. He straightened his back and watched JJ.

He put the suitcase on the floor and stepped closer towards JJ, he wrapped his arms around her, his hands entangled in her long blond hair while his mouth whispered close to her ear; "I have always loved you, from the first moment I laid eyes on you." She could feel the trembling of his hands, and the crack in his voice. She knew that he was close to tears. As quickly as it had happened the moment was over again and Will quickly moved through the room picking up the suitcase and leaving the .

JJ stood frozen in her spot in the middle of the room. She was unable to move, unable to react to the situation. She never wanted to hurt anyone, this was what she had always been afraid of the moment you admitted to other people that you had a relationship people would get hurt. She could hear the door downstairs open, the next thing she could hear was the distinct sound of her car being started. Soon thereafter Will entered the house again before he closed it once again. The next thing she heard was his car driving down the street in an aggressive manner. That was the moment that JJ allowed the tears to fall, she dragged her tired body to the bed and allowed herself to cry for all the pain she had caused to Will. She cried until she had no more tears to cry and fell into a dreamless sleep.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

The sound of her phone was what woke her up; it took her a while to wake up enough to pick up the phone. She tried to look at the caller id but her eyes hurt too much to open them. Her heavy eyelids hurt when she tried to blink. She picked up the phone without knowing who was on the other end. "Jareau." She mumbled, before she cleared her throat.

"Jayje? Are you okay?" The person on the other side of the line asked.

"Hmm, yeah I was asleep." She said while she said up. "You woke me up that's all." She said clearing her throat again. It was only half a lie after all she was asleep when her phone rang.

"You sure?"

"Yes." She said more firmly this time; "Yes, Emily I am fine."

"I am sorry I woke you up, I just wanted to check if you where okay since you where late this morning and then you left early again in the evening. Henry is fine, right? He's not sick is he?" Emily asked suddenly worried about her friends young son.

JJ prayed that her voice sounded steady when she spoke up again, but she doubted that it would. Her friends concern brought tears to her eyes. _If only ... No, Jen don't go there not now._ She told herself firmly before she answered Emily's question; "We are both fine, he's actually at Garcia's right now. Garcia's going to send me pictures of Henry playing with Kevin. She says that it is a priceless thing to watch."

Emily chuckled on the other side of the line; "Jayje, why aren't you there watching it with Garcia?" Emily asked knowing that JJ was probably trying to divert her attention from the initial question but Emily wouldn't let go. She was a profiler after all and she knew that JJ was hiding something from her.

"Oh Em, Will left ... we ... I ... he left." JJ said between sobs, she wasn't able to control the flood of tears which were streaming down her face.

"Jayje, do you want me to come over?" Emily asked suddenly uncertain of what she could do to help her friend. Should she just stay on the phone and comfort her or go over to JJ's house to offer a shoulder to cry on. Emily questionedif she would be able to give JJ enough comfort. "I will get in my car and drive over if you want me too."

"I don't want to bother you with my problems."

"Jayje, it's no bother. I'll be there before you know it." Emily answered leaving no room for an argument, she was already out the door and on her way to her car. "I am almost at my car, I'll see you soon. Bye." Emily said while punched in the disconnect button before JJ could protest. She reached her car and immediately she pushed her phone into her car kit and dialed the number of their Tech Analyst. "Garcia, this is Emily. I just called JJ, I am on my way over there now, can you tell me what's going on? She told me that Will left and that you are taking care of Henry tonight?" She said before the usually bubbly and fast speaking Tech Analyst had time to interrupt.

"Emily, you know I love you but it is not my job to tell you what's going on. All I can say is that JJ and Will had a disagreement of sorts and that I offered to take Henry so that they could talk. But you already knew that." Garcia was interrupted by a squealing little boy who ran towards her to seek for help while he was being chased around by a growling Kevin. "Emily, if you are going over there right now then I am sure that JJ will tell you what's been going on. I am sorry I can't tell you anything besides that. Now if you'll excuse me I have a kid here who is cute as a button who is being chased by my crazy boyfriend and right at this moment I am not sure which one of them needs my help more." She said with a raised eyebrow while she watched Henry hurl a toy car through the air towards Kevin. Kevin who was shocked by the action of the little boy stopped dead in his tracks in the middle of a screaming roar. Henry watched him and together with Garcia he chuckled so hard that he almost fell over.

"Em, I gotta go before things get out of hand here." Garcia said between laughs; "Take care of our Gumdrop, she is having a hard time. I am going to take some pictures of Henry to send to her right now. Bye Emily."

"Bye Garcia." Emily said with a smile, no matter how bad the world seemed hearing that little boy laugh could brighten up any day. Emily sighed, seeing JJ with Henry once more made her realize how much she longed to have a child.

Although that same little boy brought up some unresolved personal issues for her as well. She wished that she could see him more often but then again same goes for spending more time with JJ outside of work. She would like that. But that was not important now, she needed to get to JJ's house to see if she could help her friend.

Impatiently she swerved to a different lane to pass some other cars and ten minutes later she finally parked her car in JJ's driveway. Surprised why JJ's own car was parked in the street. She shrugged and walked up to the darkened house. She rang the bell and waited for JJ to open the door. It seemed to take forever and Emily was wringing her hands in a nervous gesture. Finally the door opened and she found the younger woman standing at the other side of the door hidden in the dark shadows. There where no lights on inside the house and when Emily stepped inside and the door was closed behind her she found herself in utter darkness.

She could feel JJ pass her in the hallway walking towards the living room where she put on a light illuminating the hallway and Emily followed her friend. JJ was moving around the room; closing the curtains and putting aside some magazines. She was doing everything to avoid looking at Emily. She knew that Emily would be able to see straight through her. "Would you like some coffee?"

JJ asked while she passed Emily on the way to the kitchen to prepare the coffee. She knew that she could use some, she was lost in thought and didn't hear Emily answer. She stopped dead in her tracks when Emily's hand gently wrapped around her arm.

"Jayje, stop." She said gently; "What's going on?"

"I am sorry you had to come all this way, I am sure that you had other plans."

"Jayje, cut the crap! Stop being such a professional." Emily softened her voice before continuing; "You are not okay, since that phone call, no actually since this morning when you showed up late at work I have been worried about you. Your call was a cry for help, if you didn't want me to be here you wouldn't have called me. So put aside whatever you are ashamed off and tell me what's going on."

JJ closed her eyes before she turned towards Emily, she knew that if she looked up into those dark brown caring eyes she would not be able to hold her emotions in check any longer. Emily choose that moment to release her grip on JJ's arm and reached up to cup the other womans cheek. She pushed a strand of hair behind JJ's ear and smiled sadly. She knew that JJ was using all of her strength to keep her herself together, a battle which she was loosing quickly. Emily did what she had wanted to do for a long time; she pulled the younger woman towards her and wrapped her arms around the younger woman.

In less then a second she could hear the first sob escaping from JJ's mouth and soon tears soaked through her shirt. Emily couldn't care less, she knew that in due time JJ would tell her what had her so upset and Emily would be there to listen to her.


	10. Chapter 10

_**AN:** Thank so much for your kind reviews, it is what keeps me writing! Let me know what you think of my story and if you have any suggestions I would like to know about them. _

**Chapter 10**

It took a long time for JJ to calm down but finally the sobs subdued and JJ sat up next to Emily on the couch where Emily had guided them. "I am sorry, Emily."

"Don't be sorry, we all need a shoulder to cry on every now and then." Emily answered as lightly as she could due to the current events.

"How about that coffee?" JJ asked while she got up; "Or maybe something stronger? I know that I could use it if I am going to tell you what has been going on."

"Maybe some wine, I can't have anything stronger I'll have to drive home at some point." Emily answered with a smile; "But by all means if you need something stronger be my guest."

"Hmm ... no, wine would be fine by me, I guess." JJ said musing while she got up and retrieved a bottle and wine glasses from the cabinet, and put them on the table before she made her way to the kitchen to uncork the bottle. JJ poured the wine into the glasses and handed one to Emily before she sat back down next to her.

JJ breathed in deeply and hoped that she would be able to tell Emily what was going on, and most importantly what had her so upset. "Will left us." She started with the easy part, the part which Emily probably figured out by now on her own.

"We've been having some problems lately, Will thinks that I don't care enough. He still wants me to quite my job which I refuse to do, I told him that before things started to get serious between us. And I kept telling him that from the moment I found out that I was pregnant." She rubbed the side of her head, she could feel a headache starting to build.

"I worked too damn hard to get this job and I am not willing to give it up not yet. I love Henry but I can't see myself as a stay at home mom. If that was what I wanted I could have stayed in East Allegheny. It would feel like I was wasting my potential and I don't want that. I am aware that I work long hours and that I am away a lot, but that doesn't mean that I don't care, does it?" JJ asked not really expecting an answer from Emily. "I love Henry he is part of me, there is nothing I wouldn't do for him, but there is also a life besides him. Having kids doesn't mean that what I want doesn't count anymore; I'll go stir crazy if I stay at home all day." JJ spoke the words with fire behind them, clearly she was getting more and more worked up about the topic.

"Anyway that is besides the point, I went out with Garcia last night. I more or less needed ... uhm her advice on something." JJ said biting her lip, while she watched Emily to see if she got a reaction. When Emily didn't respond to her hesitation the younger woman quickly started talking again; "When I got home Will was asleep. So this morning really was the first time I saw him and he started to bring up the usual issues again. It's like a broken record, always repeating the same arguments and I was so sick of hearing them. We got into a fight and he left." JJ shrugged.

"Jayje, did he hurt you?" Emily asked worried about her friend, she had been worried for weeks. Ever since she had noticed that JJ often looked tired when she came to work and sometimes she would be staring in the distance completely unaware of her surroundings. What had worried her the most was the fact that JJ recently flipped out to Reid when he stated facts during an investigation on a case. Of all the people on the team JJ had always been the one who would deal with Reid in the sweetest way possible. She would listen to him ramble on about some random and sometimes unrelated facts without ever loosing her patience or temper. While others would have stepped in and basically told him to shut up, or plainly interrupt the young genius she would always treat him with respect and actually pay attention. She would step forward and make sure that other officers wouldn't make fun of him and protect him like a little brother. However, about a week ago it was JJ who completely lost control with him. They had all shrugged, assumed that it was bound to happen because in some ways Reid could be fairly annoying. Add to that the stress of the case they were working at the moment, and the general stress of JJ's job she was bound to have a breakdown sooner or later. It was something which had worried Emily, though she never said anything about it, it was something which she had filed away in her memories knowing that it would be a vital piece of information one day.

"No, what... no. He is not a violent man. Besides he knows that I am a more accurate shooter then he is. He would not dare to lay a finger on me or Henry." JJ tried to make a joke, but Emily didn't laugh nor did she smile she just watched her friend intently with those sad dark brown eyes. JJ sighed, knowing that her aversion hadn't worked she took a sip from her wine before she started talking again; "He left knowing that I had exactly five minutes left to grab something to eat and leave to go to work. That is what he does, he lays his arguments out on the table and then he leaves, he doesn't communicate he just leaves. He deals with his issues in his own way and he returns when he's wrapped his head around the situation. That is just the way he is."

"So he'll be back then?" Emily asked ashamed that she felt saddened by the fact that her best friends long term boyfriend would return to her and their child.

"No. I don't think he will." JJ stated simply without further explanation.

Emily's heart skipped a beat before she asked the next question; "Why is this time different?"

"I don't love him anymore and to be honest at this point I am not even sure if I ever loved him or if he was just convenient at the time."

"What do you mean you have been living together with him for at least two years and you were dating for a year before that!" Emily exclaimed wondering how you could stay together with someone for that long without loving them.

_R&R please! _


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

"I know Em, and I never should have let it get that far, but he made me feel like I meant everything to him. I felt loved. He cared about me; he was so determined to swoop me off my feet that he visited me here in DC simply to take me out to dinner. One thing led to another and before I knew it we were in a sort-of relationship. It felt good to have someone around, and at the same time, I still had the freedom to do what I wanted." JJ sighed as a frown appeared on her forehead.

"That was until I told him that I was pregnant. I hardly had time to adjust to the idea before he told you all that I was pregnant and that he asked me to marry him. I panicked when he asked me, he said that he would give me time, but he didn't. Not really anyway. Sure we didn't get married, but we were living together before I had really been able to wrap my head around the new situation."

JJ took a sip from her drink; "So much changed in a matter of days..."

"I understand what you mean, sometimes you do something because it makes you feel good despite the fact that it might be the wrong thing."

JJ nodded and looked up at her friend; "I cared for him, I love him because he gave me Henry but I am not _in_ love with him. I have never truly been in love with him and Emily, I have always known that he loved me more then I loved him. For a while I believed that my love for him would grow."

JJ leaned forward and refilled both of their glasses; she leaned back against he couch and downed half the glass. "I made such a mess of everything."

Emily leaned closer to JJ and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "It'll work out JJ, you just hit a rough patch."

"I hope your right."

"I am, trust me. Things might seem hard and difficult now but JJ, you weren't happy and you are now choosing your own happiness. You'll be fine, mark my words." Emily said smiling at JJ. She believed that things would be better for JJ because she was following her own happiness instead of settling for what she had. Now if only she could apply that same wisdom to her own life then maybe she could be happier as well. But from the outside looking in was always easier then actually being in that same situation.

"I hope so." JJ said before she downed the last of the wine down her throat. She smiled weakly and tried to stifle a yawn. Emily lightly touched JJ's knee in a reassuring manner and got up.

"Maybe I should go home so you can get some sleep, you look like you could use it." Emily said while she headed for the hallway.

"Emily?" JJ's voice was barely more than a whisper; nevertheless the older woman had heard her. She turned around, watching her as she waited for her to continue. "Could you stay... here? I don't want you to drive home and I don't want to be alone either." JJ's pleading blue orbs watched Emily intensely. She could hear Garcia's voice in the back of her head telling her that she should talk to Emily about the real reason why she never loved Will but she couldn't. It was too soon; the wounds were still too fresh.

"Okay, I'll stay. I'll just get my go-bag from my car." She waited for JJ to react, and when she nodded she turned around and left. Within a couple of minute's she was back, her familiar go-bag in her hand.

"I can only offer you the couch, we changed the guest room into Henry's room."

"No problem, Jayje. With the job we have I've learnt to sleep anywhere." She smiled.

JJ got up and took the glasses to the kitchen; "I'll go and get you a pillow and a blanket, and if you'll follow me I'll show you where the bathroom is." JJ offered with a smile and led the way up the stairs. She left Emily in the bathroom and went back downstairs carrying the pillow and blanket. When Emily returned downstairs JJ had already made up her bed on the couch.

"Thanks Emily." JJ said to the other woman before she made her way up the stairs. Emily watched her as she walked away, her shoulders slumped and her eyes puffy. But all in all JJ looked a tad bit relieved now that she had told Emily what happened between her and Will. Emily laid down on the couch, thinking about everything JJ had told her and wondering how it might impact the future for a while, before falling asleep.

The next morning JJ found herself in her bed but she couldn't quite remember how she got there. She could feel the dull headache beginning which only came from drinking too much alcohol. All she knew that her eyes hurt because they were swollen from the salty tears she cried.

She tried to open her eyes but the light shining through the window was too bright, so she quickly covered them with her arm. And bit by agonizing bit the harshness of her reality came back to her. Instead of telling Will that she wasn't happy in their relationship, he had figured it out by himself and confronted her. And to top it off the person who was unintentionally and unknowingly causing JJ's mixed feelings, had been the one who offered her a shoulder to cry on.

JJ wasn't sure what she was supposed to think of the situation. It made it that much more confusing for her to figure out what her next step would be. She knew that Garcia was convinced that everything would be okay if she came clean to Emily about her feelings.

JJ sighed and blinked her eyes a couple of times, she didn't want to start crying again. This was supposed to be a step in the right direction. This was a good thing, well maybe not yet, but one day she was supposed to look back and see that it had truly been the turning point in her life.

JJ wanted to get up and take a shower when she suddenly became aware of a sound downstairs. She got up quietly and made her way over to the closet, reaching for the spare gun safe she had stashed away. She took out the gun and quietly crept along the hallway and down the stairs. The sounds where distinctively coming from in the kitchen. She avoided stepping on the creaking floorboard at the bottom of the stairs where she stayed for a few seconds, drawing breath. This unsub had chosen to break into the wrong house at the wrong time. She kicked the door which was slightly ajar further open and raised her gun in front of her. The person leaning against the counter dropped a mug into the sink shattering it into a thousand small pieces before she spun around. "Emily!" JJ squeaked out simultaneously with Emily's; "JJ!"

JJ immediately lowered her gun and stared at the other woman standing in her kitchen who had been preparing coffee as if she belonged there, as if she had done it a thousand times before. "You scared the shit out of me! Did you forget that I was here?" Emily asked when her heartbeat finally seemed to slow down.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you... I just thought that someone was trying to rob me or something." JJ sighed and shook her head; "I don't know what I was thinking, I was lost in thought ... I ehm sorry must have been completely out of it."

"Here have some coffee, I was only preparing it, not stealing it. I would never even attempt to steal your coffee, I would like to live a little longer." Emily answered with a chuckle. She still wondered each day how a coffee addict like JJ managed to go without coffee for months when she was pregnant with Henry.

"Well you better not steal my coffee." JJ smiled back with a mock glare at the other woman while she placed the gun on top of the counter between them, a gesture which usually would have been considered hostile. Yet Emily laughed even more at JJ's gesture with the gun before she asked her if it was okay to pour herself a mug of coffee also. "As long as you leave the rest of my mugs in one piece you can have some coffee as well."

They sat in silence for a while both enjoying the hot liquid when JJ suddenly spoke up; "Emily, why did you stay here?"

"You asked me if I could stay. You were pretty upset and when we stopped talking it was pretty late and you offered me the couch. It seemed like the better plan since I had a couple of glasses of wine."

JJ smiled apologetically; "I can't remember the last bit of our evening. I can't remember that I asked you but if you drank too much then it is good that you stayed here instead of going home. I don't want you to put yourself in danger."

Emily took a sip from her coffee; "I didn't want to wake you up so I made some coffee for the both of us. And I was thinking about making something for breakfast but there is not much in your fridge so maybe I should take you out to grab a lunch together. What do you think?"

"I would like that very much. Would you mind if I take a quick shower? You could grab one too if you want?"

Emily smiled; "Sounds like a plan."


	12. Chapter 12

**An: Thanks so much for your reviews! I have a twitter account under the same username as I have here, add me if you like. :)**

_**Chapter 12**_

It took the both of them thirty minutes to get ready, and Emily offered to drive to the diner. They left the house and JJ guided Emily towards the diner that was close to her house, one she had visited with Will a couple of times before. They entered the busy diner, finding a place in the back; not having to wait too long before a waitress came to ask them what they wanted. They both placed their order, and JJ watched the waitress leave before she averted her eyes to the brunette sitting across from her. She bit her lip before she drew in a breath, opening her mouth to speak. "Emily? Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure, ask away. If I can answer, I will." Emily replied with a reassuring smile.

"Have you ever been in love, I mean _really_ in love with someone? Wanting to spend every moment with that particular person? Completely trusting them and giving them your heart?" JJ watched as Emily fidgeted with her hands.

Emily opened her mouth a couple of times as if she were trying to answer the question but the words wouldn't leave her mouth. She took a minute before she actually formed the answer; the question JJ asked her had thrown her. She never expected that JJ would asked her a question like that so bluntly; "I don't know. I have been in love, I guess. But not the mind blowing kind of love you're talking about. Why are you asking? Are you in love with someone?" Emily fired the question right back at JJ, it was one of the questions that had been on her mind for a while, if JJ could ask blunt questions then Emily could as well.

JJ almost choked on her drink, which the waitress had placed on their table a moment before. What was she supposed to say? She should have expected this question from Emily, and knowing her, she had probably picked up on something more than JJ wanted her to see. She knew that if she told this to Garcia, she would probably say that this was the perfect opportunity to talk to Emily about her feelings, or at least test the waters to see how Emily reacted to her being bisexual. But she wasn't ready, and she was starting to panic about finding a plausible answer, so she just rambled the first thing that came to mind. "Me, ehm no. It was just a question I had because I was wondering about ... I don't know."

Emily smiled at her rambling friend – _it's actually doable to get JJ stumbling over her words_ - she thought with a smile. She felt a little bit sorry however, that her friend was struggling, so she continued to speak; "I have been in love, but it has never been the mind blowing kind of love, the kind that tells you that you want to spend the rest of your life with that person. If I had I might have been with that person today, but as you know since I've met you, I haven't really been with anyone in particular." In part it was a confession, a silent one at that.

Emily had never really been an open book when it came to relationships; she wanted to keep her personal life to herself. She loved the people she worked with and considered them close friends, family, even. Nevertheless, it didn't mean that she wanted to share everything with them. Apart from the fact that she had never really been in a long lasting relationship, she had hardly had any dates at all in the last couple of years. However she would love to have someone around, hence she could understand why JJ had stayed with Will. It felt great to be loved by someone, but it felt even better to love someone back.

JJ seemed to be the same way when it came to her private life, but in contrast to Emily, her life had changed so much over the last couple of years that it would just be a waiting game to see how she would deal with her new found 'freedom'.

The waitress returned with their order and placed it on the table between them, she lingered a little longer to ask if they wanted a refill. JJ denied but asked for another coffee instead, and watched the waitress leave again before she turned her attention back toward Emily. JJ smiled weakly, she was still fighting the internal battle with herself; should she tell Emily about her feelings or not? Was this the right moment or would it be better to wait? Would the right moment ever arrive or had it passed years ago before Will, before her life took a complete 180 and she had Henry?

So many questions were going through her mind, making her completely zoned out, becoming lost in her thoughts. "Jayje? Hey, Jayje?" Emily gently touched her friend's hand, making JJ jump and look up at Emily again. "Are you okay?" The brunette inquired in concern.

"Yes, sorry. I was just lost in thought." JJ smiled apologetically pushing her thoughts to the back of her mind. There would be time to think about what she would do later. The smell of her food suddenly made her realize how hungry she was, and she dug into her food and started eating. Her plate was soon half empty, and she looked up at Emily, who was watching her with an amused smile. "I just realized that I didn't eat yesterday after I came home. I just forgot, Will and I … we fought and when he left I cried myself to sleep, then you called me. You came over and dinner wasn't even on my mind." The blond shrugged, she should take better care of herself.

"Yeah, sometimes other things consume your thoughts so much that you'll forget to eat. We all have days like that every now and again." Emily knew herself well enough to know that every now and again she would forget to eat because she was working a case or too consumed in other things to realize that she had missed a meal. She could only imagine that JJ would be the same.

They enjoyed the rest of their food in a comfortable silence. It didn't take them long before they finished and had another coffee before they left the diner to go back to JJ's place. Emily drove them back and walked back up to the house with JJ, who let them inside. Emily packed her go-bag and got ready to go home. She was glad to see that JJ was seemingly doing a lot better than she had been doing the night before. It had probably all been the shock of the sudden change in her life that made her so emotional, and of course breaking up with someone was never a easy, not even if you were the one initiating it, especially if there were kids involved.

When Emily was ready she walked up to JJ; "I should go now so you can pick Henry up. Try to enjoy your weekend as much as you can Jayje." Emily knew that JJ was going to have a hard time adjusting to her new life, even though this was what she wanted. Her son was also depending on her to provide for him and to take care of him, and now she was going to have to do that all alone. Emily knew that up until now Will had done more than his fair share of the actual care of Henry because he didn't have a job. And since they broke up, he would have to go and provide for himself instead of living of off JJ's earnings.

"I will." JJ replied while biting her lip. She was contemplating her options, should she stop Emily from going away or not? The palms of her hands were sweaty and a shiver ran down her spine. She wanted so badly to tell Emily that she loved her, that she had wanted her all along, and that she couldn't love Will because her mind was consumed with her feelings for the older woman. Instead she nodded and watched as Emily made her way to the couch where she had left her go-bag, she picking it up with ease and walking toward the door. She looked so confident in JJ's place even though she had only been here twice before. The blond hoped that one-day, hopefully soon, Emily would consider her house home. That would be a dream come true, yet at the same time that particular thought scared her to hell. Was she really ready to be with a woman? Could she do that to Henry, or even to Will? And what about work, the fraternization rules and Strauss ... but most importantly was Garcia right, would Emily be open minded and even be willing to consider having a relationship with her?

She watched Emily walk away; every step taking her closer to the door and further away from her. Breathing in and out shallowly, JJ stepped forward, taking a couple of swift strides to move toward Emily, who had just rounded the corner into the hallway, and grabbed her one fast move she turned Emily around and pushed her against the wall, it was as if her mind and body were no longer connected. Her mind screamed at her that this was the wrong way to try and make her feelings clear, but her body seemed to be acting on it's own accord, and she did what she had dreamt of doing so many times. She had always wondered what it would be like to kiss Emily, one of her best friends – a coworker none the less.

JJ leant in to move closer toward Emily, who tried to move away but couldn't due to the wall behind her. In the blink of an eye, before Emily could come react properly, JJ's lips touched hers. The touch was soft, like the flutter of a butterfly, but it sent a shiver down Emily spine nevertheless. For a couple of seconds she was unable to react, but then her mind suddenly seemed to kick start and her first reaction was to push JJ away, so she did. However, the second JJ moved backward she wanted to pull her back close to her again, but she wouldn't allow herself to do so. "No." She said softly but clearly. "No, this is not happening."

She straightened herself out, knowing that she had some height advantage on the younger woman, and she used that difference as leverage while she stared right at JJ; "No, no I'm _not_ going to be your rebound buddy." Quickly she moved around JJ and was out the door before the younger woman could even respond.


	13. Chapter 13

**AN:** Thanks for all the sweet reviews I received over the past couple of days and your continued support. Let me know what you think.

Chapter 13

Emily spun around on her feet and swung the front door open, leaving the house as quickly as she possibly could without actually running away. In a matter of seconds she arrived at her car, and with spinning wheels she backed out of the driveway. She drove away quickly but was forced to stop only two blocks away because tears stung in her eyes and she couldn't see anymore.

She could not allow JJ to play with her heart like that, not now, not ever. It would destroy her; kill her, even if JJ merely used her as a friend with benefits – a fuck buddy. No matter how much she longed to feel the touch of the other woman on her skin, she could never allow that to happen as long as the other woman didn't love her. At least she had her dreams, figments of her imagination in which she could pretend to make love to JJ.

Each day was a struggle; already she had a hard enough time keeping her feelings for JJ at bay. Hidden away in their compartment, which she only allowed to open every once in a while, when the loneliness in her heart became too much for her to handle on her own. Usually that happened when a particularly hard case hit the team, and everyone sought refuge in their own preferred way. Garcia would go out and party with Kevin, Rossi went to his cabin to hunt, Morgan dated some hot woman and Reid played a game of chess or read the latest statistics or whatever it was the boy genius did in his spare time. Hotch and JJ had a similar way of dealing, they would go home and hug their respective sons. And she would drink and imagine what it would be like if JJ loved her, only to wake up the next morning with a pounding headache and an empty and lonely feeling. She would then collect her thoughts and place them back in the compartment before sealing it off, until the next time she needed it for comfort. She knew that it would only ease the pain temporarily, only to come back with a vengeance.

And now this woman who held her heart from the moment she said hello had tried to kiss her. No, she _had_ kissed her. And if it was even possible, her kisses tasted sweeter, her lips softer than Emily ever imagined, and all she could think about was how great it would feel if she kissed her again. But she couldn't do that, ever again.

Starting the ignition again, Emily dried her tears, knowing she needed some time. And she needed a drink too, but most of all she needed to forget what happened. No matter how she put it, the kiss was a one-time thing, it could never happen again. She quickly made her way home, it was Saturday and she knew that on Monday she would have to face JJ, whether she was ready or not.

JJ watched the door with a horrified look, she watched Emily go. She heard the door slam shut and listened to the howling engine of Emily's car as she sped off. JJ wanted to follow her, tell her that she made a mistake but she feared that it wouldn't be enough. She wanted to explain to Emily that she couldn't love Will because the profiler was the one she wanted to be with. But Emily didn't share those feelings, that much was obvious. She had never really been in love with anyone; those had been her exact words. JJ had to face the truth, not only had she lost her relationship with Will, the father of her son, she had lost one of her best friends, and she had found out that there was no chance of a relationship with her either.

The blonde felt miserable, she thought her life was a mess yesterday, but today she had even managed to make it a bigger mess and it wasn't even noon. She sat down on the stairs and laughed bitterly, she was glad that it was the weekend; at least she didn't have to go to work until Monday. That was of course, if no new case which needed their immediate attention came up. She did however, have to pick herself up as best as she could because sooner rather then later she would have to pick up Henry at Garcia's. And she knew that she would never be able to hide what happened from Garcia, she didn't call herself omniscient for nothing.

JJ got up and dragged herself up the stairs, heading to the bathroom where she tried to wash away the tear streaks and hoped that the cold water would relieve her puffy eyes. She didn't want to scare Henry when she picked him up. At least not when she arrived, though knowing that she would inevitably shed more tears before she left Garcia's apartment.

With one last look in the mirror she left the house. It only took her twenty minutes to drive to Garcia's apartment building, and she parked in front of the entrance, sitting there for a few minutes, trying to calm her nerves. But that was easier said then done; she could already hear the comments Garcia would make to her, the blond Tech often shared the same way of reasoning as her nagging inner voice. She grabbed her purse and got out of the car, and with one last deep breath she walked up to the building.

Garcia opened the door and with a cheerful face she stepped aside to let her friend enter her apartment. Henry came running to his mother, who easily picked him up. JJ was used to the little boys antics, and she didn't even stumble backward when his added weight hit her. She hugged him close to her, and that was when the tears started to fall again.

Garcia had seen through the façade right away, the smile plastered on her friends face as she walked up to the house. She had seen immediately that it would only last for a short time, and here the tears were not even a minute after she entered the house. Garcia guided her friend towards her couch. Kevin appeared from the kitchen area of the apartment he stepped up to the two women when he noticed the tears falling down JJ's face. He immediately took action by calling out Henry's name. The little boy looked up at him and smiled.

"Hey big guy, do you wanna go play with your cars outside with me? Just like we did yesterday, so mom and Auntie Garcia can have some girl talk."

"Yes!" Henry squealed loudly.

"Okay, give mom a big hug and a kiss and we will get your cars." Henry wrapped his arms tightly around JJ's neck and gave a her a big sloppy kiss. She lowered him off her lap and he ran towards Kevin, blissfully unaware of his mother's turmoil. Garcia smiled at Kevin who just smiled back and rushed after Henry. Garcia sunk down on the sofa next to JJ. "Talk to me, Jayje?"

Through her tears JJ smiled, a miserable smile. "Believe me, the mess I made of my life yesterday is nothing compared to the mess I managed to made of it today."

"What are you talking about, Gumdrop?" Garcia asked; "I am pretty sure that it can't be that bad, relationships end and you move on. Did he do something to you?"

"Will? No, he just left. He's at a Hotel somewhere, we're gonna talk when things cool down a bit. He's not a bad guy, we just have to see what we're going to do, you know because of Henry." JJ brought her hand up to her face and wiped the tears away. "I kissed Emily." JJ said bluntly without further explanation.

"You ... what! Did you just say you kissed Emily?" Garcia said raising her eyebrow while she snapped her head around and searched the younger woman's face. "How did that happen!"

"She called last night to see if I was alright, which I wasn't. She offered to come over, I told her what happened between me and Will and somehow time got away from us and it was really late. I asked her to stay."

"You asked her to stay, my you sure are moving fast." Garcia said with a happy smile, even though the robotic emotionless fashion in which JJ was talking told her that the end of the story would not be 'happily ever after' at least not at this moment.

"Don't get too excited, she slept on the couch. My former guest room is now Henry's room so there was no other choice."

"Well I can think of another option, but anyway continue. You said you kissed her?"

JJ rolled her eyes, her tears had dried; "This morning she was awake before me and decided to make some coffee and she wanted to make breakfast but couldn't since I didn't really have anything in my fridge. She offered to take me out to a diner and we had breakfast together. I tried to tell her, but I chickened out. However when we got to my house I watched her pack her stuff and I just I couldn't let her go ... and I ... I kissed her."

"Jayje, what happened then?" Garcia asked her arm firmly around JJ's shoulder.

"She pushed me away, told me that she refused to be my rebound buddy and fled from my house. It's over." JJ raised her eyes to Garcia's face, she was extremely calm when she spoke up again. "She's never going to look at me again. She must hate me so much right now ... I scared one of my best friends away, Pen."

"Oh Sugar Plum, did you even talk to her or did you just push her against the wall and kiss her out of the blue?" Garcia asked.

JJ turned a deep shade of red and looked down at her hands; "It doesn't matter, Garcia I screwed up. Everything."

"Oh Jayje, I was just kidding, don't tell me that you really did that?"

"I am just going home, spend the weekend with Henry and try to figure out how I can possibly face her on Monday without screwing up the team dynamics. What if she wants to leave the team because I kissed her. We need every person on that team and despite my feelings, and the way that I screwed up; Emily is an crucial part of the team, we need her. And I know how hard she worked to become a BAU member and I don't want to screw that up for her. I think that I have wrecked enough lives for a life time." JJ's shoulders slumped; "Garcia, what if she decides that this is the proverbial drop, what if she leaves the team because of me?"

"Sweetie, I really don't think that will happen. If all Emily needs some time and you, young lady need to get your act together and talk to her. Preferably as soon as possible before this all spirals completely out of control."


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

"I know, but how can I face her after all of this?" JJ said, sounding defeated as she watched the blond tech. "I can't really act like nothing happened, and if I go after her right now I'd be lucky if she doesn't shoot me."

"Jayje, you kissed her, it's not the end of the world, hardly a reason to use violence over. Stop this nonsense right now." Garcia scolded, barely able to contain her laughter at the irrational though process of the young blonde media liaison. Sometimes she wondered how her friend could go on television and tell the press what they wanted to hear without giving them too many details but fail so miserably when it came to communication in her own life. The whole situation with both Will and Emily could have been resolved if she'd just talked about her feelings.

"What am I supposed to do now?" JJ wanted to get up, but a hand on her knee stopped her from doing so. She looked up at her friend and bit her lip. "I screwed it up so badly, I'm not sure I can even fix this."

"Well you could go to her apartment and ring her doorbell, that could be a start. Or you could call her, but I'm not sure if she'll pick up the phone when she sees your caller ID. A phone is too easy to ignore, I think that the direct approach will work better with Emily." Garcia got up, grabbed JJ's hand and took her outside where Kevin and Henry were playing on the grass with the cars JJ packed for Henry.

The little boy was squealing loudly while he banged his toy car against Kevin's. Garcia sat down on the steps in front of the building and watched her boyfriend and her 'nephew' while they played in the sun. JJ sank down next to Garcia and watched Kevin with Henry as well. She couldn't help but smile at the blissfully unaware squeals her son made, she was glad that he was too young to actually know what was going on around him, and that in a matter of days everything had changed. She leaned her head against Garcia's shoulder and revelled in the warmth of the sun. For the first time since she arrived home from their last case she felt some of the tension leave her body, despite the turmoil, which was still going on inside of her, she felt a little more peaceful.

"Jayje, if you want we can watch Henry for a while longer, Kevin is having a blast with him. He can finally play kids games without being frowned upon!" Garcia chuckled as she watched on while Henry supposedly wrestled a very amused Kevin to the ground. "We can take him to the playground at the park. And you could go see Emily in the meantime. You have to fix this, she might just have the wrong idea, you know. She accused you of using her as a rebound buddy and you didn't tell her otherwise. You didn't agree with that statement nor did you do anything to tell her that she was wrong. According to what you told me that's the only thing she accused you off, so for all I know she might be interested in you so long as it's not a temporary thing."

Garcia gently pushed her friend in what she believed to be the right direction, if she had read some of the signals right. She might not have been a profiler in the truest sense of the word, but she too had picked up a trick or two, and of course she had had a front row seat ever since Emily joined the BAU. Plus there was, of course, the simple fact that she was omniscient.

"Maybe I should do that." JJ gave in, yet she didn't move a muscle; instead she even pushed her body further into Garcia's. Closing her eyes, a small smile appeared on her face as she retreated into her mind, pretending momentarily that everything in her world was okay again. Just for a couple of minutes she wanted to feel that way while as she tried to restore some of the depleted energy in her body. She sensed Garcia next to her, and she could hear the sounds of Kevin and Henry playing while the sun warmed her face, everything seemed right if not for the nagging voice in her head.

She allowed herself to rest for a couple of minutes before she sat back up and watched Henry for a little while. The little boy saw that his mother was watching him and came running towards her. He jumped at her when he was right in front of her, and JJ easily caught him and hugged the boy to her chest. He wrapped his small arms around his mother's neck and gave her a couple of sloppy kisses. "Hey baby, what would you say if I told you that Aunty Pen and Kevin will take you to the playground at the park, you know the one with the swing and the slide?"

"Yes! The swing!" Henry exclaimed while he clapped in his hands enthusiastically, he remembered it from the last time mommy and daddy went to the park with him, with Aunty Pen and Kevin.

"Okay sweetie, will you promise me that you will be a good boy and listen to Aunty Pen and Kevin?" JJ asked him, she knew that he was young and probably didn't understand half of what she was saying to him, but she wanted to teach him to communicate properly, ironic as that might sound at this particular time.

Nevertheless, Henry nodded his head up and down, while he screamed no. He hadn't quite figured out that moving his head up and down meant yes and not no, add to that the fact that lately his favourite word seemed to be no, and his answer was explained. JJ and Garcia both chuckled at the little boy's antics.

"Garcia, can you check one thing for me? Can you see if Emily is home?"

Garcia held up her hands; "No Jayje, I won't do that. If it's not a matter of life and death, I will not spy on my friends. That would be like you guys profiling each other, there is an unwritten rule about that."

"But Garcia, I just want you to do a quick GPS find. If she isn't home then there really isn't a reason for me to go there and make an ass out of myself in the hallway of her apartment building." JJ looked up at Garcia over her sons head with those big blue orbs, which she knew Garcia couldn't resist; "Please, I really need to do this, but I'm not sure if I can pluck up the courage to go there again if she isn't home. I'm begging you, I wouldn't ask you this if it wasn't really important to me."

Garcia sighed and got up; "Okay, but whatever you do or whatever happens, you never ever tell her that I did this. I feel bad enough already without her knowing."

"I won't, I promise. Thanks Garcia."

Garcia nodded as she got up and walked back into the apartment building, seemingly returning just mere moments later; "She's home." The two softly spoken words, made the media liaisons heart flutter while a feeling of nervousness settled in her stomach. "Jayje, please be honest with her, she deserves at least that."

JJ stood up, hugging Henry one last time before she set him down on the stoop. He immediately ran off to play with Kevin again. JJ smiled, between her friends and colleagues Henry would have more than enough male role models in his life for all those times when Will wouldn't be around. She was confident enough to know that she could make being a single mom work for Henry if she had to.

JJ slowly walked closer to Emily's building, with each step her heart started to beat faster, and on numerous occasions she wanted to turn around. First, when she stepped into the hallway and saw the security clerk sitting behind his desk in the fancy marble entrance hall of the building. Then when the elevator took too long to arrive, and finally when the doors opened to the right floor and she saw the long hallway in front of her, she had to resist the urge to frantically push the button to close the doors. But since the security guard wanted to call Emily to verify JJ's arrival with her, JJ had resorted to flashing her badge, and she told the clerk that it was official business. And now she was sure that the clerk would ask Emily about it the next time he saw her. So in all honesty she couldn't go back without at least letting Emily know that she had been there.

However, as JJ walked down the corridor, she had herself convinced that Emily wouldn't even want to listen to her no matter what she did. And yet at the same time she knew that she at least had to try to talk to Emily. Despite knowing that she eventually had to knock on the door, JJ took quite a few minutes to try and calm her nerves. But no amount of time would ever make it any easier to actually raise her hand and knock on the wood.

It remained silent for a while after she knocked, and she almost began to think that Emily must have left the house while she was driving over here. But then she heard the distinct sound of someone walking inside, silently, but nevertheless the distinct sound of footsteps, but the door didn't open.

JJ figured that Emily had used the spy hole to see who was in front of the door, but decided not to open up. The blonde listened intently, but she didn't hear the sound of shuffling feet moving away from the door, so she decided to talk to Emily through it if she wasn't going to let her in.

JJ leant closer to the door and sighed deeply, she hoped that her voice sounded steady but doubted that it actually would. "Emily? I'm sorry ... I'm making such a mess of everything. Em, please let me in, we need to talk." The silence on the other side of the door remained, however.

"Please, I don't want to do this through the door, but I will if I have to." JJ placed her hand on the wood and tapped it lightly. She was sure that Emily was right on the other side of the door, and she didn't want to startle her; "Emily, please." JJ pleaded softly.

"Please Emily, I want to explain to you what happened. Em, I should have never kissed you. I mean it was exactly what I wanted to do but I went about it completely the wrong way. I don't see you as a rebound buddy. I see you as so much more then just some fuck buddy."

JJ was startled when the door next to Emily's apartment opened, and an elderly woman stepped outside, eying JJ from top to bottom. She could only pray that the woman hadn't heard what she had been talking about. But whether the woman had listened or not, JJ's face coloured a deep shade of red.

The woman walked through the hallway and passed JJ, still looking her up and down; "I really think that you should have these type of conversations in the privacy of a house and not out in the hallway. This is not the type of conversation a lady should engage in." The woman scolded before she shuffled further down the hallway and disappeared into the elevator.

"Em, please, I'm disturbing your neighbours but I refuse to go away. I know you're there, please let me in so I can explain myself."

JJ listened intently, her heart fluttering when she heard Emily moving behind the door. She heard a click and the door opened slightly. JJ pushed the door further open but she was only met by Emily's back as the older woman retreated into the living room, moving to stand in front of the large window overlooking the Capitol. JJ closed the door behind her, she followed Emily but stood still only a few feet into the room. Emily's shoulders were tense and she didn't face JJ, she was sure that the other woman refused to face her because she knew that JJ could see right through her. Just like JJ knew the other woman could do with her right now, if she turned around.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

JJ breathed in deeply; she prayed that her voice sounded steady when she spoke up. "Emily, I'm sorry."

Emily remained silent; she was still staring out of the window, motionless. Her stare was fixing on the Capitol and the glittering lights in the distance. JJ sighed; she bent down to place her bag on the wooden floor before slowly moving forward inch by inch. She was afraid of the profiler's reaction, but right now she wasn't getting a reaction at all. "Emily, I need to explain to you what happened. You got me all wrong; I don't want you as a fuck buddy or a friend with benefits. I want _you_ Emily, all of you."

Still, no reaction came from the dark haired woman in front of the huge window. It was as if she didn't register that there was someone else in the room talking to her, trying to get her attention. JJ tried to look at it positively, at least she hadn't lashed out at her or thrown her out of the apartment, which she was sure Emily could do if she wanted to.

JJ let her eyes travel over the content of the apartment, she wasn't shocked when she noticed the half empty open bottle of Jack on the coffee table. She bit her lip and slowly she stepped forward closer to Emily. She was only a few feet away; if she reached out her arm she could almost touch the brunette. "Emily, I can't love Will..."

"I don't want to hear anymore about Will. This is not about him." Emily said barely audible, so much so that JJ had to strain to hear the words.

JJ moved forward, placing a hand on Emily's shoulder as she moved up close to her; "Please listen to me, this has everything to do with Will and I." She placed her forehead against Emily's shoulder as she brought her other hand around to Emily's other shoulder. She could feel the brunette tense up, but at least she didn't pull away.

"I can't love Will the way I should love him, the way he deserves to be loved, because there's someone else I have feelings for. You Emily, I have feelings for you. And I've tried so many times to tell you. But the last time I tried, you told me what a 'cute' couple he and I would make, and in a split second I decided that you weren't interested in me. After that moment, I thought what I had believed to be true had actually been my mind playing tricks on me, that it was just wishful thinking. That all the flirting had been just for fun, and that it was only me who had these deeper feelings, so I went after him, and I tried ... I tried _so_ hard to make it work, but I can't stop thinking about you. And that isn't fair, he deserves someone who loves him, so you see this has something to do with him but more to do with you."

JJ closed her eyes, trying desperately to keep the tears that threatened to spill inside, she had cried more than enough already in these last couple of days. This would either work out, and she would move on from here, or it wouldn't, which meant that she would have to focus on her new life alone with her son.

"I talked a lot with Garcia these last couple of days; she noticed that I've been struggling. You know how you can't hide anything from her! I was at a point were I could either go forward and let my life go down the drain, or change what I had to, to try and get what I wanted. I choose the latter. Emily, I want you." For good measure she pulled Emily closer to her. "Please Emily, talk to me. I know I screwed up, and that I went about this the wrong way, but I'm trying here. I hope that you can find it in you to forgive me for my mistakes."

Emily bowed her head down, her shoulders slumped and the tension left her body. Tears dropped down on JJ's arm, leaving a tear streak on its way down. The blonde was shocked to say the least by Emily's reaction; the older woman breaking down was the last thing she had expected to happen when she stepped into the profiler's apartment. She expected her to be stoic and somewhat distanced, she didn't expect the walls to break down and reveal this emotional, raw side of Emily, one that she rarely showed. JJ moved around Emily slowly so that she was facing the other woman, wrapping her arms around the brunette, hugging her close. All the while she was repeating the mantra of how sorry she was to the profiler, until finally the words died on her lips, and they stood in silence.

It didn't take long before Emily wrapped her arms around the blonde, causing butterflies to flutter in JJ's stomach as a warm feeling spread through her body. She felt so content in Emily's arms, though at the same time she knew that this didn't mean that everything was okay between them, but at least Emily didn't physically push her away.

"The flirting ... it wasn't ... just for fun."

"What?" JJ asked, wondering if she had heard Emily's muffled words right.

"It wasn't just for fun." Emily said again, louder this time; "but when I saw you with Will in Miami I ... I thought that he was what you wanted. A guy that could become your husband and be a father to your children one day. Someone to build a life with; who understood you and the job. A perfect family, all the things that I can never offer you. Why would you settle for that?"

JJ was somewhat taken aback by the profiler's reaction, she had never seen the woman this emotional before. She had expected her to be hurt, but she never thought that Emily would wear her feelings on the outside like she was doing right now. She was waiting to be pushed away either physically or mentally by the other woman, but instead she had broken down and stared to cry. JJ took control of the situation, gently pushing Emily toward the couch she wondered if the older woman was merely 'cooperative' because of the alcohol she had apparently consumed. The bottle was still on the coffee table; the top unscrewed, already half empty, waiting to be finished. JJ was sure that if she hadn't arrived when she did, the bottle would have been empty by now and Emily would have been in a much worse shape. For that reason she was glad that she arrived when she did.

The blonde sat them down, still holding the older woman. Breathing in deeply, JJ tried to gather her thoughts before she spoke. "Emily, don't sell yourself short. You have _so_ much to offer, I don't know who told you differently, but anyone would be lucky to have you in their life." She said, deliberately talking in generalities rather than herself. She didn't know if Emily would ever be able to forgive her for all the pain she had caused.

"I never meant to cause you so much pain, I just assumed that you weren't interested in me. And my own fears of the unknown, and what was deemed normal were holding me back. I know that it sounds a tad bit weird, but Emily I never thought that I even had a chance with you. So I told myself to let you go, and in a split second I sealed my fate by running after Will. I hope that you'll be able to forgive me, if not now, then hopefully one day. I don't want to lose you as a friend, you mean too much to me. Although I'm not sure if we will stay friends after all the hurt I caused, I hope that you will at least think about it."

Emily didn't say a word; she had returned to the stoic woman she sometimes seemed to be, if you didn't know her all that well. JJ knew that she was compartmentalizing the whole situation, and that rapidly, the walls were being built up again to hide the true depth of the brunette's feelings.

She knew that Emily resorted to compartmentalizing when the situation at hand was too difficult to deal with. JJ feared that she had lost the battle, that Emily would pull the walls back up, and that she wouldn't get the trust the woman used to place in her. She feared that she was fighting for a lost cause. JJ blinked hard to keep the tears at bay, _she would not cry,_ she made this mess and she would have to live with it.

JJ untangled herself from the other woman, ready to get up and leave the apartment. She watched Emily from a few feet away, the older woman was staring straight ahead, and she hadn't said a word. The blonde knew that at this moment there was nothing more she could do. Emily hadn't given JJ a single indication that she had even heard the words that the blonde had uttered. Hell, for all she knew, the profiler didn't even know that she was leaving.

JJ sighed, not sure what to do. She contemplated with herself if it was a good idea to leave Emily here on her own or if she should stay. She decided that it would probably be best if she left, she could always ask Garcia to check on the brunette to make sure that she was alright. She bent down and picked up her purse from the wooden floor where she had left it earlier. With one last look at the brunette, she walked down the corridor towards the door, which led to the hallway.

As JJ put her hand down on the handle, she suddenly heard a sound behind her. Quickly spinning around, she was pushed up against the door by the brunette that had seemingly followed her. Their lips crashed together and a hungry struggle for control ensued. At first JJ was too shocked to react, but soon her feelings for the other woman took control and the kiss deepened.

As suddenly as the kiss started however, it ended. Emily stepped away and watched her younger colleague. "I need time. I need to find out where I stand in this, I thought I knew what I wanted but ... I pushed the feelings I once had for you away because there was no chance anything would ever happen between us. Now I ..."

"I'll give you time, all the time you need." JJ said quickly, her heart skipped a beat at the mere thought of there being a possibility that they would be okay.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

JJ had left the apartment that afternoon, and true to her word she had given Emily her space. The only contact they had had was strictly work related, and had happened in a very diplomatic fashion. She hoped that sooner rather than later Emily would come to her and that they could find a way to pursue a relationship together, or at the very least restore their friendship. But Emily had avoided her as of yet, and JJ had been struggling with the situation. Especially with the cases they had worked, the skills of their coworkers and the close proximity in which they had to work together.

However, apart from the situation with Emily, she also had her issues with Will to figure out, and Henry to take care off; she had been quite busy over the last two weeks, leaving little room to actually worry about the situation with the brunette. That didn't mean that her feelings had changed though, on quite the contrary.

Today however, she had to deal with Will, who had called her last night and asked to meet up. It had shifted all of her attention toward the issues that could develop between them regarding Henry's care.

Therefore, JJ found herself standing in front of the mirror with a worried look etched onto her face, as she combed through her long blonde hair when her doorbell rang. Her heart jumped and a bellyache settled in her stomach, she knew that it was due to her worries. The blonde tried to smile but failed miserably and hoped that she would manage to smile more convincingly when she opened the door.

Walking down the stairs; JJ took a little longer than she needed to, in order to prepare herself. The blonde opened the door and looked up at the Southern man; despite what had happened between them, he smiled at her with his genuine, warm smile. "Chere, I was thinking that you and I could go to the diner down the street. The one where we took Henry a while back?"

"Uhm ... okay. Let me get my jacket and purse." She said, a little too obviously surprised by his demeanor; she was confused and unsure what to think of it just yet. JJ only hoped that Will didn't think it was an indication of her wanting to fix things between them by agreeing to meet with him today. That there was a choice to be made in the near future for anything other than Henry, because she had certainly closed that door days ago. She knew from past experiences that rekindling an old relationship hardly ever worked because most of the issues would come back in time.

Once ready, the blonde closed and locked the door behind her, and together they walked to the diner. It was a beautiful, sunny day, warm enough for a nice stroll. They enjoyed some small talk on the way over, but they both knew that they would eventually have to get into their issues, sooner rather than later. It would only become harder to talk about the situation at hand as more time passed.

It wasn't long before they were seated and given menu's, and as soon as they finished ordering their lunch, JJ was no longer able to contain her curiosity. "Will, why did you ask me to meet you today?"

The Southern man smiled at her with his handsome smile, the smile that used to send a shiver up her spine. And while he still smiled the same way, she no longer felt the same way about him; a realization that was still difficult to comprehend. She thought about it while he shoved a spoonful of scrambled eggs into his mouth, and almost missed his softly spoken words.

He took his time, carefully chewing the food while he watched her intently before he replied. "Chere, I took some time to think and I came to a conclusion. I know that talking in hindsight is always easy, because you have all the facts and clarity, but I should have seen that you weren't happy, and I didn't. In fact, I should have told you a couple of months ago that I wasn't happy either. But I didn't do that either."

JJ snapped her head up at his revelation, shocked to say the least; "What are you talking about, Will?"

"I love you, Jayje, and I love Henry. I always will. We did good." He drawled out the words in his Southern accent, looking down for a moment as if he wanted to gather his thoughts before continuing. "When you told me that you were pregnant I was over the moon. Granted, our relationship before that moment had been rocky, and we really hit a bump in the road when we were in Miami. But at that moment, everything seemed to fall into place, and I wanted nothing more than to take the first flight here so I could take you in my arms and tell you that everything would be okay. And for a while things seemed to be incredible, I was happy and I loved living here. I was optimistic that I would find a job here and that you would be able to stay at home with our baby once you gave birth, and that I would provide for my family. Those were dreams and none of that came true. I wasn't able to find that job and you didn't want to stay home."

JJ wanted to interrupt him, but Will stopped her; "No Jayje, please let me explain what I want to say to you. I need to be able to tell you my way of thinking, so that you can understand why I'm making the choices that I'm making. I get why you didn't want to stop working, you don't have to defend yourself. You worked hard to get where you are today career wise, and you love the team as if they're your family, and I should have understood that back then when I asked you to become a stay at home mom. I know that was part of the reason why you left East Allegheny, because you didn't want to live the life most of your high school friends live. I get that, really I do. Though, I have to admit that throughout your pregnancy I hoped that you would change you mind, I can't deny that. I hoped that you would decline doing fieldwork and do your press conferences from Quantico. I know that you love Henry, and that your choice to continue working doesn't make you love him any less. I also know now, really know, how much the team means to you and how hard you work. Also, the fact that I hadn't been able to find a job prevented us from having any further discussion on that topic. I just want you to know that I understand your decisions."

JJ once again opened her mouth to interrupt him, but Will stopped her before she could utter a single word. "You don't have to defend yourself, I really do understand where you stand on the subject. I know that you love Henry and that you would do anything for him." Will smiled genuinely before he continued; "I can't deny however, that while you were working on the cases in other cities I was taking care of Henry. And as much as I love the little man, it's been hard to be Mr. Mom."

He sat back and pushed his plate forward on the table, carefully choosing his words before he spoke again. "I should have talked about this sooner rather than later, because it could have changed how our relationship ended. These last few month have been extremely hard on me, not being able to provide for my family and staying at home with our son in a city which I hardly know has made me feel inadequate as a man."

JJ looked up at him, shocked to say the least. For a man who hardly ever talked about his feelings that was quite the revelation. "Will! You are not inadequate as a man because you take care of your son.''

"Jayje, I love you, you know that. And I love Henry. When I moved here I was positive that I could find a job anywhere, but with the way the economy is these days and the fact that I know hardly anything about DC, it's been hard for me to find my way. I never complained because I knew that we needed the money, and your job is better paying than I would make as a cop."

He fidgeted with his hands before he looked up at her; "I agreed with your wish to continue working because I had no choice, but I miss my job, and while taking care of the little tyke is great I need to be able to be amongst grown ups every once in a while. I'm not happy here, if we're not together anymore there's even less of a reason for me to stay here."

JJ wanted to interrupt him but he held up his hand, effectively stopping her once again. "Chere, I love you and I don't blame you. I should have talked about this sooner then maybe things would have been different between us. Now that I have the chance, I want to go back to New Orleans. I miss it too much, and I've called my supervisor and asked if I can get my ol' job back. He told me that I can work there, not on my old team but at least I'll have a job. That does however, not mean that I am abandoning my son, but it does mean that he will see me a lot less than he's used to."

JJ felt relieved in a way, relieved that he wasn't going to fight her for custody as she had expected him to do. After all, since JJ rejoined her team at the BAU, Will had been the primary caregiver to their son. As strange as it might sound to outsiders, he had been the full time dad while she would travel with the team, hence he would spend more hours with Henry than she would in general. Nevertheless, he was willing to give that all up so that Henry could stay with her while he went back to New Orleans.

"Will, I ... Will, are you sure about this? Is this really what you want, to go back to New Orleans?" She needed the reassurance, she needed to know that he wasn't going to turn around and realize that he wanted to have their son with him in New Orleans.

"Jayje, it's my home. It's where I belong, I moved here for you because I knew that your job was important to you. And because after what happened down south with my father and the hurricane, for a while it didn't feel like home anymore. I thought that I had nothing holding me there after my father died, but now that I've been living here, I realize how much I miss the feel of the city. The way the people talk, the food and ... well everything."

He smiled, his eyes gazing in the distance, no doubt trying to remember all the things he missed. "I want Henry to be able to visit me and I hope that you will consider joining him when he visits. I want to show him where his daddy is from, and I want my boy to know how important he is, even if his mommy and daddy no longer live together. I want him to know that I care about him and love him. That's all I ask in return, that you won't make me the bad guy."

"Will, how could I ever make you the bad guy after all the sacrifices you're making and have made in the past for me?" JJ moved closer to him, touching his hand lightly. His eyes focused on hers and he smiled back at her. She knew that he put a lot of thinking into his speech, and that he revealed quite a lot in the few words he spoke.

"I've seen enough marriages go sour, and I know that this isn't a marriage but … well, you know what I mean. Children getting guided into disliking the other parent or caught in the crossfire, I never want that for my kid. I promise you that I will never do anything to put you in a bad light, and I just want to make sure that you understand where I stand in this. And more specifically why I'm making the choices I'm making."

"Will, what're you saying? You're going back to New Orleans, going back to your old life permanently?" JJ asked him, wondering if that really was his plan.

"Yes, that's what I'm saying, with the exception that I now have a son. I want to be part of his life, though it's my choice to go back to New Orleans, I'm not resigning as Henry's father. I promise you that." Will leaned in and placed his hand on top of JJ's. "Don't blame yourself for what happened, I've been in denial. I let the signs pass me by, hoping that we would be okay in the end, Chere." He smiled sadly; "I know that it was a naive of me to think that way, since we broke up I've been thinking a lot and now I want to try and establish the next best thing, which would be you and me working together to make sure that Henry knows that he is loved by both his mother and father. Even if we're no longer together."

JJ had tears in her eyes as she listened to the man who she hurt so much, who took a few days to consider his options and came back with a plan. One that would provide them both with a strong base to build up their new lives apart from each other, but still have a strong foundation for their son. JJ opened her mouth but words wouldn't come out, she tried again and this time she was able to speak though her voice was barely above a whisper. "I would like that very much." She smiled and for the first time in days her smile actually reached her eyes.

"I've seen the result of relationships gone bad where kids became the victims. I never want that for my son." Will wiped his hands clean on his napkin and placed it back on top of his plate, he waved the waitress over and asked her for a refill, she cleared the table before she returned with their coffee. They both enjoyed their coffee while talking about random stuff. While they walked back to JJ's house thirty minutes later, Will told JJ that he would leave for New Orleans the next day.

Though JJ was the one who caused the break up, she was still saddened by his departure. She stood in front of her front door, trying to figure out what to say to Will before she could hide inside her house; "Will you call me to let me know when you arrive in New Orleans?" She asked him while she bit her lip nervously.

"Of course I'll let you know, we'll still be friends right?" Will smiled; "Once I found a house and I am settled in I will let you know and maybe you and Henry can come visit me?"

JJ smiled and nodded and leaned in, she hovered for a couple of seconds before she kissed him on his cheek, she didn't want him to give him the wrong impression. He said his goodbyes and turned around, walking down the path towards his car. JJ opened the door to her house and closed it as soon as Will drove off. The blonde leant against the wood and smiled, the conversation went better than expected. She dug her phone out of her bag and called Garcia, who was babysitting Henry for her and who was very anxiously waiting for JJ's phone call.


	17. Chapter 17

**AN: **Thanks so much to everyone who takes the time to read my stories and especially to those who put me on author/story alert or wrote me a review. I love reading your reviews! Thank you!

**Chapter 17**

JJ sat down at her desk with a sigh, the stacks of files only seemed to grow bigger instead of smaller, and the workload was dragging her down. She wasn't sleeping well, too many thoughts were running through her mind whenever she lay down and closed her eyes. All the questions and doubts she couldn't answer during the day flooded her mind making it almost impossible to fall asleep.

Of course since Will left, the care for Henry had been resting all on her shoulders. Even though during the day Henry was at the FBI day care facility, and whenever they went out of town she could count on Pen to help out, she still had to rush home to get everything done at the house and make sure that she would still have time to spend with her son. Usually her efforts only made her figure out that the day didn't have nearly enough hours for her to do everything she wanted to. At those moments she wondered why she even brought up her feelings for Emily. At the rate things were going right now she didn't even have time to fit in a newly established relationship.

She closed the file in front of her and placed it back on the table. She leaned back in her chair, at the right angle she was able to catch a glimpse of the brunette sitting at her desk in the bullpen through the blinds. Sometimes she wished she could sit down there with the others; but she knew that the amount of cases she handled and the Local Law Enforcement Officers who she had to let down needed the privacy of an office.

JJ watched Emily while she worked on a file, her pen hovering above the paper, but all the while JJ was watching the brunette not a single word was written down. The blonde wondered if Emily's mind was preoccupied as well, she wondered whether the brunette was trying to decide what to do. The media liaison hoped with all her heart that if Emily decided what she wanted to do, she would come to her and they could either slowly build a relationship or restore the friendship they once had. It had been a couple of days since she left Emily's apartment and she couldn't help but wonder. Her phone interrupted her thoughts.

Meanwhile, Emily sat at her desk, the file in front of her was open but she couldn't see the words. Her eyes were blindly staring at the black ink, her feelings were in complete turmoil and her mind was jumping from one thought to the next. _Was she ready to have a relationship, with a woman - a coworker no less and one of her best friends? Would she be ready to out herself at work, could they remain on the same team or would it be all Strauss needed to get rid of her? And last but certainly not least, could she be in a relationship with a woman who wasn't just responsible for herself but also for a small child? Would a relationship between her and JJ screw Henry up? _The brunette was trying to analyze the situation from all angles. The thoughts consumed her - she wondered if she would ever be able to make the right choice. The brunette was trained to be a profiler and now she was profiling her own life.

Derek Morgan watched his friend who had been sitting silently in her chair, staring at the page in front of her but who hadn't moved a muscle since she sat down. If he didn't know any better, he would almost be convinced that she had fallen asleep. He had tried to gain her attention a couple of times but she didn't answer. Reid was watching Morgan; the young genius shrugged his shoulders when the dark agent turned towards him with a worried look. Morgan crumbled up a piece of paper and threw it at his co-worker who looked up startled. "_Morgan_!" Emily shrieked.

"Emily, what's going on with you?" He asked before she could say anything else.

"Nothing." The brunette simply replied.

"Right, Emily. You can try that on someone who hasn't been watching you stare at the same page for close to thirty minutes with a pen hovering over your paper without ever moving." Morgan smiled genuinely, but he couldn't keep the concerned look from his eyes; "Prentiss, something is going on with you and I have every intention on finding out what it is so that I can help you. You have me worried, girl."

"Morgan let it go." Emily demanded.

At that moment, Dave Rossi walked in through the glass doors, he immediately noticed the tension between his younger co-workers and assessed the situation in a split second before he cleared his throat. "Derek, could you help me out with something, I want to run an idea by you. Conference room." He stated leaving little room for discussion before he walked passed the others towards the conference room without giving Morgan any chance to reply. Morgan just looked up and shrugged at Reid before he walked away.

"Emily, are you sure you're okay? Morgan is right, statistically speaking, even if you were a really slow reader, you should be able to read more than one page..."

"Reid, shut up!" Emily hissed between her teeth before she flipped the manila folder shut and slammed it back on the table. She pushed her chair backwards and with long strides she walked off towards the double glass doors and the deserted hallway.

Morgan stopped in the doorway of the conference room, only to hear Emily snap at Reid before storming out of the BAU bullpen. "PMS'ing much?" He muttered under his breath before he joined Rossi in the conference room.

"Care to repeat that to Emily, Agent Morgan?" Rossi asked - less then pleased with the way their resident ladies man handled the situation with Emily - without ever looking up from the file in his hands.

"No of course not, she'll shoot me." Derek said while he sank down in one of the chairs at the round table. "You needed me?"

"Not really, Derek. I thought that it would be best to interrupt because you were this close - " He held his hand with his thumb and finger barely a centimetre apart up in the air; " - to getting your head ripped off. Cut the girl some slack. Just let her be, she's there when we need her, she's good at her job, but she's just having a hard time, she'll talk to one of us if and when she needs us."

Rossi was confident that Emily knew that she could always talk to him if she needed to after she opened up to him about her past in Italy. And if she didn't talk to him he was sure that she would talk to either one of the girls, although, JJ seemed to be bothered by something as well. When Rossi looked up he noticed that Derek had walked out of the room and was back at his desk, bent over the file he had been working on.

Meanwhile, the brunette disappeared into the ladies room down the hall and leaned against the sink while she tried to slow her breathing. She glanced up at her own reflection, seeing dark circles underneath her eyes and a tired look on her face. She had been restlessly tossing and turning all through the night, and the effects of sleep deprivation were visible on her face. If she was honest she could see why Derek was so concerned about her, she didn't look fine, far from it to be honest.

She looked down at her hands, curled around the edge of the counter the knuckles turned white from the pressure. A wet drop fell onto the top of her hand. Emily gave herself a couple of minutes to collect herself, she tried to compartmentalize to the best of her ability, but with the emotional impact of the situation she wasn't able to hold the barriers for long. She knew that she was running out of time and that she needed to deal with the situation sooner rather than later. With one last glance at herself, she went back to the BAU bullpen and acted as if nothing happened.

Emily was at home, it had been a slow week, and they had only worked a few consults and caught up on their paperwork. She knew that JJ was watching a few cases to see if they would need to head out or if they should only provide another consult. On one hand, Emily prayed for a case away from DC, knowing that it would give her something to focus on, but at the same time she knew that she would have to deal with JJ twenty four seven and she wasn't ready for that yet. Just thinking about the blonde was one thing; actually being with her was a whole new ball game. JJ told her that she loved her, basically.

For the third time in just as many minutes, Emily picked up her phone and started to dial the number, before placing it back on the coffee table. The profiler sighed, rubbing her fingers over her temples before she picked her phone up again. She made her way over to the large window, looking out over the Capitol while she contemplated if she should call or not. Her thumb hovered over the buttons before she reached a decision and dialled the number.

She impatiently waited for the call to connect before she spoke up; "It's Em, are you free to meet me for a drink? I need to talk to you." Emily smiled nervously as she tried to keep her voice steady. "Hmm, okay, how about that new place downtown you were talking about the other day?" She was silent for a minute while she listened intently to the answer before she replied; "Okay, I'll see you there." Emily disconnected the call and sat down on the couch for a couple of minutes, trying to focus on getting calm before she got up again and left the apartment. The weight, which had been dragging her down for days, seemed to have been somewhat lifted off her shoulders and she felt like she could breathe easier.

It didn't take her long to reach her destination, and before Emily knew it, she opened the door to an overcrowded bar and suddenly she wasn't so sure if this had been the right place for them to meet. But it was too late for second-guessing and doubts, she breathed in deeply and moved through the crowd.

Emily soon spotted the blonde at a table in the back where the noise was somewhat reduced by the interior of the bar. And they could talk in a sort of privacy without being too alone, she slipped into the booth next to the other women and leaned in; "Thanks for meeting me on such short notice."

The blonde turned towards her with a bright smile; "For you, anything, Sugar Plum!" Garcia said in a quirky tone of voice. "Now, sit down and tell me what has been bothering you, because I heard through the grapevine that you almost ripped my Chocolate Hunks head off earlier today?" She raised a questioning eyebrow at the brunette while she pushed a beer glass over toward the other woman.

"Thanks," Emily said gratefully; "he was annoying. I don't know, I'm aware that I overreacted, maybe just a little ... but I just don't know what to do." The brunette watched the technical analyst.

"You have to be a little bit more specific, honey." Garcia encouraged, trying hard to keep the smug smile off her face.

"Garcia! You know damn well what I am talking about. I know that JJ talked to you and that you've been her support, and I'm not here to ask you to pick a side or something childish like that, but I just didn't know who else I could talk to about this. And I really need to talk to someone." The brunette answered softly as she wrenched her fingers.

"Okay, Sugar Plum, you got me there." Garcia answered with a quirky smile, not even feeling ashamed that she had been caught red handed in a lie. "You're right, Jayje talked to me. But please, enlighten me, I'm sure that you still have some details to share."

"Wishful thinking PG, wishful thinking, it's not gonna happen." Emily laughed and took a sip from her beer; she was suddenly feeling a lot more confident than she had been when she stepped into the bar. "I just don't know what to do, PG."

"Why? What's holding you back?"

"I don't know, what if..."

"What if? Emily, seriously?" Garcia smiled at the brunette; "If you let 'what if's' control your life you'll never get anything you desire." She watched her friend with a compassionate smile.

Emily quickly diverted her eyes from the other woman, she knew that if Garcia looked into them she would see right into the soul of her being. And the brown-eyed woman was not yet ready to reveal those feelings, which had been the sole reason she had avoided JJ and her co-workers.

The computer tech leaned in closer because she wanted to make sure that the profiler would hear what she had to say; "Em, look at me. I know how you feel about her, how much you care for her. I even know that you stepped back when you thought that Will was what JJ wanted. You stepped away; you backed off even though I know it must have ripped you apart inside. I could see the pain in your eyes; you kept up a brave face but you were in pain when you came back from the Miami case. And I saw with my own eyes the fake smile you bravely plastered on your face after Will told us about JJ's pregnancy in New York. You gave it all up in hope that she would find the love she deserved."

The profiler looked up and glanced at the technical analyst, the look in Garcia's eyes revealed that she really knew how deep Emily's feelings went; "God! I've wanted to walk up to the both of you and knock some sense into either one of you." Her hand gripped around Emily's arm tightly; "He's gone now. Em, Will is gone. Why are you still denying yourself to be with the woman you love?"

The profiler looked down at the hand on top of her arm; "It's not that easy." She spoke, barely loud enough to be heard, but Garcia was listening and she heard the words nevertheless.

"From where I'm standing, it is, it really is."

"No, Jayje isn't alone anymore. I can't make this about me. She has Henry to think of and if I'm with her... I'm keeping Will from Henry, I can't do that." Emily finally admitted what was actually holding her back.

"Have you talked to Jayje lately?" Garcia suddenly asked with a smile.

"You know I haven't."

"Exactly my point. She talked to Will, and _he_ decided that neither one of them were happy, and that they've grown apart. _Will_ decided that he going back to the South, he's back in New Orleans already. He took himself out of the equation. And I know that you might not agree with me, but isn't this the chance you wanted all along?" The tech asked the dark haired profiler.

"Yes, it is. It is what I want." Emily whispered softly, admitting what had been in her heart all along.


	18. Chapter 18

**AN: Okay, so I wrote two one parters for the monthly 'Chit Chat Corner challenge' one is Garcia/Rossi and the other is Garcia/Morgan, not exactly my favorite couples cos' that will always be Emily/JJ but I had fun. Anyway I am now working on this story again and I hope you are still with me and that you like it, let me know! **

**Chapter 18**

Emily waited for JJ patiently in front of the FBI building that housed the BAU on the sixth floor; she was nervous. She didn't really know what to expect or where this would lead them. All she hoped for was that she could at least salvage her friendship with JJ, and hopefully work toward something more. As long as JJ wanted the same thing then it was something they could work on. Slowly but gradually, they could work toward a relationship.

She knew that there were complications and difficulties in their path that they would have to face, but truth be told it was all she ever wanted, even though she never said it out loud. The brunette looked up, watching as a couple of agents left the building. It was almost noon, and a lot of people were coming outside to take a stroll in the sun during their lunch breaks, trying to get away from the cruelty of the cases the FBI worked.

A flash of blonde rushed through the revolving doors and out onto the walkway, in her hurry JJ hadn't seen that Emily was standing right in front of the entrance, and she almost bumped into the brunette. "Oh sorry! I didn't see you. I thought we were going to meet at the diner?" JJ blushed a little bit and smiled apologetically at the older woman.

"That's what I was going to do, but then I decided to wait for you here. I was thinking that maybe we could get a sandwich and a coffee and go to the park so that we can have a little more privacy." She wanted to be away from prying eyes of fellow FBI agents who might overhear something they shouldn't, at least not right now.

JJ nodded in agreement, and side-by-side they walked toward a parlor which made the best Italian sandwiches in town, and who also had the best cappuccino to go, a real treat. They put in their order when it was finally their turn, and soon they found themselves on the way to the nearby park. Emily guided them toward a bench near the water where the rays of the sun could warm them as they talked. Most of the people walked around during their lunch breaks, and the path was nowhere near close to the bench, a perfect spot in Emily's eyes.

She sat down slowly, sipping her coffee while she waited for JJ to settle as well. "Jayje?" Emily started; "I've been thinking a lot about us and about what happened. I really want our friendship to last, I see you as one of my best friends and I trust you. All I want from you is to be honest when you tell me that the kiss we shared was actually what you wanted. I don't think my heart can take it if you decided that it was a nice thing to try but not for you."

JJ placed her sandwich and coffee on the bench next to her and turned towards Emily, she placed a hand on the brunette's arm, before looking up at her with those big blue eyes. "Emily, I wasn't playing with you. Granted, I _did_ go about this the wrong way, but I didn't mean to cause such havoc on you. I left Will because I couldn't love him the way I should love him. I was too infatuated with you." The blonde's earnest eyes showed that she meant it with all of her heart.

Emily was touched by a wave of emotion, she was stunned beyond believe and almost didn't believe what she was hearing. The brunette looked around quickly, scanning the area around them to see if she recognized anyone in the immediate vicinity. To her relief, she didn't. She leant closer to JJ, looking deeply into her eyes; a slight smile was playing on her lips and a mischievous glint appeared in her eyes. She could see that Jayje was holding her breath, the feelings which were running just under the surface became clearly visible in her actions.

The blonde media liaison bit her lip nervously as she closed the distance between them; their lips touched just barely, but it send a shiver through both women. As soon as it happened, it was over, leaving both women staring deeply into each other's eyes while they remained mere inches apart. "I want to see what happens between us, I could never forgive myself if I didn't try this. I wasn't happy and I want to be. That's why I decided to change my life." JJ continued her speech, which had died on her lips when Emily had leant in; "I want you."

Emily reached her hand up and touched JJ's face gently, she wasn't sure what she was supposed to say to the blonde. She blushed heavily, her face colored a darker shade of red as she sighed in delight; "I want you too." The profiler watched the younger woman intently before she leant in again and kissed her; "Nevertheless, I want to take this slow. I need to make sure that we're both okay with what we're doing before we take the next step. We need to be sure."

JJ leant in and kissed Emily again as the brunette's hands entangled in JJ's long blonde hair. She also released a breath that she had been holding; "I agree. But ... kissing is fine... right?" JJ replied between kisses.

"Very much so. But we should probably eat our sandwiches and make our way back to the office." Emily replied, her voice sounding a little more disappointed then she wanted to show."You know what?"

"What?"

"We only have four hours left on the clock, what if I tell you that we're going out together ... on a date. Dinner, dancing ... the whole nine yards?" The brunette asked happily.

"That sounds like a plan." The blond replied happily while she took a bite from her sandwich. Her eyes floated towards the water in front of them, where she contentedly watched the sunlight playing on the ripples in the water. Emily smiled as she watched JJ and munched on her sandwich. "You know what, I'll pick you up tonight, I know just the place to go."

Once JJ entered the Tech's lair, she quickly closed the door behind her. The young blonde media liaison stepped backwards and leant her back against it, eyes closed. She could feel her cheeks burning; a deep red color flushed through her already heated skin.

"Gumdrop, are you okay?" Garcia spun around in her chair, averting her eyes from the various computer screens in front of her. She wasn't sure what was going on with her younger friend, but she was sure that she would find out one way or the other. On one hand JJ looked flushed, on the other hand she was chewing on her lower lip, a sure sign that she was nervous or worried about something. The blonde's posture was turning rigid against the back of the door, before she opened her eyes, that change in body language was concerning to say the least. "Sweetie, talk to me. You know you can tell me anything, right?"

Garcia got up from her seat and closed in on JJ to grab the younger woman's hand, pulling her back over to the chair, where she guided her young friend down. The agent let the Tech take control; JJ's frown turned into a slight smile, only to turn back into a frown again. "What the hell is going on in that pretty little head of yours?" Garcia sat down on the other chair, watching her friend as she apparently went through a number of emotions.

"She asked me out..." JJ whispered as if uttering the words out loud would make them become less real. Her face broke into a delighted smile. "Pen, she asked me out!" She repeated, louder this time and a little bit more confident.

"Oh my God! What did you say? Is it a date date, a real one?" Garcia fired off one question after another at her friend. She was too excited and wanted to know each and every detail, these were, after all, two of her best friends, who in her opinion belonged together after finally admitting their feelings for each other.

"Em... Emily called me about an hour ago, asking me to meet her in the diner across the street. Morgan told me that she went on a lunch break, apparently he wanted to go with her but she declined and told him she needed some time alone. I guess ...she didn't really want that, since she called me barely a minute after she left." JJ smiled at the thought; "I followed her, but instead of going to the diner, she was waiting in front of the main entrance. We ordered some sandwiches and coffees and took a stroll in the park. You know the benches by the..."

"_Jayje_! Cut to the chase for God's sake! I don't want all the details right, normally I want details now I just want the gist of it! I couldn't care less about sandwiches and which route you took through the park! I want to know what happened, now spill." Garcia was getting impatient she wanted answers.

"Okay okay! So Emily told me that she was willing to take a gamble on me, as long as I was serious and my feelings for her wouldn't turn out to be a tryout of sorts." JJ smiled; "If only she knew how long I've been having these feelings for her, she wouldn't have asked me that. But that is not important, I told her that I was being honest with her. We kissed, Garcia we kissed and this time there was no pushing away or harsh comments afterward." JJ's cheeks flushed again when she thought about the kiss she had shared with the brunette. "It … it was amazing, better then I ever expected it to be."

Garcia chuckled as she watched her friend gushing over a kiss like a high school girl. Though they had long since surpassed the 'high school girl' age, it was fun to see her friend like that. Except for when JJ was with her son, Penelope couldn't remember ever seeing her this happy, and all that happiness came from one simple kiss and the promise of a date. She could only imagine what would happen once they actually started a relationship.

"So a date?" She interrupted her friend's train of thought with a soft chuckle.

"Yes, yes! A date. Tonight." JJ added as an after thought. Suddenly her face turned into a frown again and she bit her lip; "I'm sorry, I planned this date tonight but I never even stopped to think about Henry. Could you ... I know that you've watched him a lot for me lately..."

"Jayje, don't mention it I'll look after him tonight."

"But Pen, you can't. I remember that you told me that you had a date planned with Kevin tonight."

"Sweetie, I will watch Henry tonight. We can make it a night in; watch a movie, have some popcorn. Kevin will understand, he knows what's been going on, and don't worry about it, I'll make it up to him." Garcia replied while she suggestively wiggled her eyebrows.

"I don't even want to know, do I?"

"Probably not." Garcia laughed; "Just remember you owe me, and promise me that you will do everything in your power to make this successful for the sake of both of you. You chicas can use some luck and happiness in your lives."

Garcia smiled as she watched JJ get up and walk out of her lair with a newfound confidence and a spring in her step. She returned her eyes to the screens in front of her and smiled as she opened the video feed. A small screen popped up and she could see into the BAU, at that precise moment JJ arrived and walked past the table occupied by a certain brunette. Emily looked up and her eyes traveled up the younger blonde's lean body, only to stop suddenly when her gaze crossed Morgan's' eyes.

"It's a dirty job but someone has to do it, and I'm glad that it's me who gets to do it." The tech spoke the words out loud, knowing that no one was going to hear them anyway. Emily quickly turned back to the file in front of her, pretending to read. Garcia reached for the phone in her office and quickly dialed the number she knew by heart. She knew that Morgan wouldn't drop the curiousness that would cause him to question Emily, so for her sake, Garcia decided to interrupt him before he could ask the right questions. She also knew that what Emily did took a lot of courage, and that she had enough worries and doubts on her mind and she sure as hell didn't need a third degree by one of her best friends and a fellow profiler, not right now at least. Garcia was going to make sure that nothing could keep the two women apart.

She begged her phone to ring quicker knowing that it wouldn't change a thing. She almost sighed a sigh of relief when she saw that Morgan grabbed for his phone cradled in the holder attached to his belt.

"What's up, Baby Girl?" The dark skinned man asked with his warm sultry voice.

"Take me out to lunch, my Hunk of Chocolate Love." She replied in the same flirty manner, which many people frowned upon when they heard it, especially because the two of them weren't even in a relationship. Garcia had learnt not to care what people thought about it, she was with Kevin and though he could be jealous from time to time, he knew that he had nothing to worry about. Nothing ever happened between Garcia and Morgan, after all she was not what he was looking for.

She watched her screen and saw a smile appear on Derek Morgan's face, and immediately knew what he was going to say. "I'll be there before you know it, Sweet Cheeks." He didn't wait for her to answer but disconnected the call.

She quickly shut down the video feed as she nodded her head, commenting out loud about what had happened; "Em, Em, Em, you are one lucky lady that I'm all seeing and could prevent that impending interrogation which could have put you in a world of hurt." Garcia locked her computers, preventing anyone from entering the information on her hard drives without the entry of a specific code, and bypassing several security measures that she had built in personally. They were against the Bureaus regulations, but she wanted to make sure that her system wasn't hacked into.

The FBI chose her because of her abilities, and she would be devastated if her system turned out to be flawed. She put some of the items scattered over her desk into her bag, for no particular reason other then wanting to take them with her, the fact that her bag wasn't large enough didn't even stop her.

She turned around and jumped when she saw Morgan leaning against the door jab with his broad shoulders, his arms crossed in front of his chest while he stared at her intently. "How come you always call me at a vital moment?" He asked her the question she had expected.

Garcia shrugged; "I am omniscient, you should know that by now." She simply stated it in a matter of fact tone. She gently pushed him out into the hallway and closed the door behind her before she locked it.

"Now, where are you going to take me, Sugar? I've certainly developed a sweet tooth sitting behind those screens all morning."

"Sugar Pie, you did not 'develop' a sweet tooth, you've had one as long as I can remember, and probably a long time before that as well." He smiled generously and together they made their way to the elevators.


	19. Chapter 19

**AN:** So for some reason my muse decided that if I got to have a vacation she could have one as well. So instead of getting a couple of chapters written and send them out to my wonderful beta I couldn't even finish the chapter I was working on. My vacation is over and so is my writers block unbelievable! Here is the next installment and I promise that the next chapter won't take as long to be posted.

**Chapter 19**

JJ was ready to call Emily and tell her that she couldn't do this, not because she didn't want to go. Not because she didn't mean what she had said earlier either but simply for the fact that non of her clothes seemed to be good enough to go on a date with Emily Prentiss. She felt like a young lovesick teenager and once again she realized how much differently this already was then the early stages of her relationship with Will. She really was in love with Emily.

"Garcia! Help me dammit! My bedroom is a disaster area. I have never been this nervous before going on a date before. Never." JJ replied, the phone cradled between her shoulder and ear while her hands frantically searched through the pile of clothes on her bed, and the little bit that remained in her closet.

"Stop! Jayje stop! You're driving yourself insane, and me to booth." Garcia was the voice of reason which actually halted JJ's motions. "What are you doing? There is no reason to freak out like this. It's Emily were talking about, you've been on countless dates with her."

The blond straightened and took the phone back in her hand, the fingers of her other hand absentmindedly threading through her hair. "DATES! No, we have never been on a date, we went on countless girls nights out to the movies or bar hopping. As friends, not as lovers or at least people who are trying to figure out if they can manage to build a future together. There was NO pressure. This is a date! A real date, romance, kissing … " JJ sighed willing the headache which was quickly approaching away. She knew that it was a combination of sleep deprivation and stress which was causing it; "Now the pressure is way up there." She waved with her hand in the air as if she wanted to physically show how high the pressure was, a gesture which of course was something which Garcia couldn't see.

"Jayje, give it up already." Garcia interrupted her friend. "Get your black slacks, the high heeled boots with the metal along the heel. You know which ones I mean?"

"Yes, the shoes which were way to expensive but I just had to have?" JJ replied with a chuckle.

"Yes those and the top you bought last time we were on a shopping spree, with the glittery embroidery on it. Now young lady put me on speaker phone and get dressed, so that we can chat some more. You got about thirty minutes before Emily picks you up right?"

JJ checked her watched and almost freaked out again when she noticed that she actually had less then thirty minutes left. "Yes, more or less..." She replied softly while she placed the phone on her bed side table. Knowing Emily she would be punctual, she always was it was probably a trait which had been drilled into her at a very young age by her Ambassador mother.

She dug through the pile of clothes again retrieving the said slacks and top and started to undress before she redressed again in the suggested clothes. "Okay, I got the clothes you suggested." The mirror on her closet door showed that Garcia was right, the clothes fitted for a date without being to overdressed. They were perfect.

"You make it sound like something horrible." Garcia chuckled.

"I know, but it's not. Just the nerves talking, I swear it's perfect." JJ grabbed the phone of the nightstand and stepped into the bath room. She started applying her make up while she listened to Garcia.

"Gumdrop, approach this date as 'girl-nights-out' with the exception of the enlightening presence of yours truly of course. Just go on the date like you usually would, have fun and see were it leads. Don't force anything, and maybe something happens maybe not. But whatever you do, don't force anything!" Garcia was happy for her friends, finally her two best friends were following the path they were supposed to walk. She had feared that both of the women had lost their chances when Emily's comment practically send JJ into Will's arms.

And then Will had dropped the bombshell on the team by announcing JJ's pregnancy to them. Emily had congratulated them but Garcia had seen the pain in her eyes. Garcia had known or at least suspected that the brunette was interested in JJ and women in general. "Jayje, I'm sure that Emily is just as nervous as you are right now and I am sure that compartmentalizing won't help her this time."

JJ smiled, she loved Garcia the woman always knew how to cheer her up. She was glad that she called, she was actually feeling calmer; "Okay, that might be true," she admitted; "Pen, what would I do without you?"

"Be miserable, a nervous wreck who was probably still secretly longing for a certain brunette while being with Will, pretending to love him..." Garcia summed up with a chuckle.

"Okay, okay. You can stop now I get your point." JJ chuckled; "I would be screwed without you."

"Nah Sugar, I think I leave that to Emily." The blond Tech laughed out loud; "I take this as my point to say 'Garcia out'. Have fun!" Garcia disconnected the call before JJ could reply, the media liaison raised her brow and looked at her phone while shaking her head in disbelieve. Only Garcia would make a comment like that. She was glad that she was on the phone with Garcia and therefor the other blond hadn't been able to see how red her cheeks turned at the mention of 'screwing' and 'Emily' in one sentence. The blond tried to shake the images appearing in her minds eye and continued to get ready for her date.

JJ made sure thats she was downstairs by the time Emily was going to arrive. The talk with Garcia had made sure that she was back with her two feet on the ground and it had calmed her down considerably. At the very least she was no longer wrenching her hands or biting her lip.

She stood in front of the window which looked out over the patch of grass and the white picket fence in front of her house. Ironically that was the kind of an vision little Jennifer Jareau always had of the house she would call home when she grew up. A home needed a garden, not that she ever really got the time to spend planting flowers but it still felt homey. The way a family home was supposed to feel. With the job she had she needed a house which represented all that is good in the world, and for her the patch of green in front of her house and the secluded garden in the back gave her that. She had sought a long time to find the house but she had known that it would be a house where she would feel relaxed, which gave her a place to recharge the depleted batteries after a hard case. And now the house also provided a place where Henry could grow up and play in the garden.

JJ smiled thinking about that, a thought which automatically brought her back to the conversation she had with Will. She was still surprised by his choices, somewhere in the back of her mind she had feared that he would fight her and would have wanted to take Henry with him. She knew that if he took her to court he could probably make a good case for himself given that he had provided their son a stable home while she was working in the field. JJ sat down on the recliner, her eyes still fixed on the driveway but she wasn't really seeing it. She was a million miles away in her thoughts.

Her heart fluttered when she heard the swelling sound of Emily's sleek black Lexus as she drove down the street. The brunette parked the car on the driveway and turned the ignition off. Her hair swept up when the summer breeze caught it, Emily absentmindedly combed her fingers through her long dark locks. She made her way around her car and walked towards the front door of JJ's house, unknown to Emily the blond was watching her every move. Her breath hitched in her throat leaving her absolutely speechless when she saw the short skirt which Emily choose to wore, showing off her long lean legs. She wore heals which were slightly higher then she usually saw Emily wear during the week. Emily wore a maroon blouse which was perfectly form fitting showing off her bodies curves in all the right places. The blond was rooted to her spot behind the window watching as the other woman walked up to the house. In JJ's mind it took the profiler minutes to actually reach the house but she knew that it could barely be more then a couple of seconds. The stone path from the driveway to her front door was not long and before she realized it the brunette had rang the bell.

JJ strode towards the front door, she pulled it open with one swift move, she smiled at the absolutely stunning woman in front of her who smiled back; "Your chariot awaits you." Emily chuckled while she said the words.

"Is that what it is like when you date a high society ambassadors daughter?"

"Maybe if my mother invites you to a benefit." Emily shrugged; "But let's not talk about my bigoted mother who rather sends me on a blind date with a rich boy then listen to me once again explain to her that I am not interested in men."

"Sorry, wrong topic." JJ smiled apologetically, she reached for her jacket on the coat rack and grabbed her bag. She placed the jacket over her arm and ushered Emily out of the doorway so that she could set the alarm before closing the door and locking it. Emily said nothing, she walked down the path slowly and opened the passengers door for the younger blond. But before JJ sat down she reached up and touched Emily's hand which was still resting on top of the door frame. "Sorry, I didn't mean for that comment to come out that way. I know about your struggle with your mother, I should have known better."

The profiler smiled; "Don't try to profile me, Jayje. I'll be fine. I can handle talking about my mother." Emily send JJ a radiant smile to show her that she was fine before she closed the door and pushed her sunglasses on. She quickly made her way around the car and eased herself down into the seat. She backed the car out o the driveway.

"Are you going to tell me where you are taking me?"

"No, not yet." The brunette said grinning to herself. She glanced sideways at the blond who had been one of her best friends since she started working at the BAU. And who she had been infatuated with since she first laid eyes on her. A flare of butterflies fluttered around in her stomach and a nervous feeling settled. Suddenly she was able to hear Garcia reprimand her in stern tone of voice and it made her chuckled, which earned her a confused look and a raised eyebrow from the blond.

JJ watched her and wondered what had the brunette laughing; "What's funny?"

"Nothing, it's nothing I promised I just remembered something..." Emily replied with a genuine smile when she halted in front of a traffic light.

"Are you really not going to tell me where you are taking me?" The blonde tried again, this time she included her pleading blue orbs and a radiant smile knowing that it was a hard combination to resist.

But the brunette was holding her ground when she firmly nodded her head and stayed silent, she had planned something special and she hoped that JJ would remember their first date for the rest of her life as the special date this was supposed to be. She continued driving towards their destination enjoying meaningless small talk with JJ who every couple of minutes asked her where they were going. But Emily never gave her the answer knowing that soon enough she would see for herself what their special date was.


	20. Chapter 20

AN: I don't really know what the butterfly exhibit looked like, it is what I hoped it looked like and how I imagine a butterfly expose would look like. But I have never been in America, never been to Washington or the Smithsonian for that matter, so I had to work with some pictures. So this is my imagination with some reality thrown in. Chapter 20

"Emily, what're we doing here?"

The profiler parked the car and turned off the ignition; "You'll see soon enough." The brunette stated simply with a smile. She got out of the car and quickly moved around it and opened the passenger side door.

"How chivalrous." JJ said with a genuine smile as she got up from the leather-clad seat. She leant over the door and kissed Emily softly, having a sneaking suspicion of where they were. "Now, are you going to tell me where we are, or why we're here for that matter? Because this looks a lot like the Smithsonian, and if it is, wouldn't it be closed at this time of evening?"

This was not exactly where she had expected to be for the place of their first date. But she knew that Emily was going to surprise her, never the less, and their unlikely venue made her even more curious as to what the older woman had planned for them.

"Yes, you're right. It is the Smithsonian, the Museum of Natural History actually." The brunette told the younger woman.

"And why are we here?" JJ asked a little more confused and curious with each passing minute.

"You'll see." Emily answered softly though mysteriously, locking the car before taking JJ's hand in hers. She led them both down the pavement toward the darkened historic building, smiling confidently, knowing that the blonde media liaison would love the surprise she had in store for her.

As they reached the stairs, the brunette took out her phone and dialed a number, then waited for the call to connect and smiled at the reaction she got on the other end of the line. Seconds later, a light illuminated the entrance from behind the glass door and a woman appeared behind it. She waved at Emily who waved back as she guided JJ up the stairs.

Within seconds, the door opened and the woman greeted them with a warm smile; "Emily Prentiss, I couldn't believe it when I saw your name flash up on my phone this afternoon!" She quickly made her way toward Emily and hugged her tightly.

"Yes, yes! I know it's been far too long, and I am _so_ sorry." Emily smiled apologetically when she let go of the dark haired woman. "Helena, I want you to meet Jennifer Jareau." She turned toward JJ who stepped forward and took the other woman's' hand. "Jayje, this is Helena Chamberlain, she and I go way back." The profiler explained, making a gesture with her hand.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you." Helena spoke with a thick English accent.

"_Finally_ meet me?" JJ questioned the woman, immediately picking up on the fact that Emily evidently had talked about her before today.

"Yes, finally. Don't act so surprised, you managed to leave quite an impression on my friend here. For the past … what was it again, Em? Almost 5 years she has been rambling on about you." Helena revealed, turning back from Emily toward JJ; "Come on, lets not stand here in the door opening, there is so much more to see inside."

Helena enthused, ushering both of the women inside. Emily's face had turned a deep shade of red, and she was glad that they were still standing outside where the light could not illuminate her face enough to show the others how flushed she looked. Leave it to Helena to spill her secrets.

For a second JJ wondered if in the past these two women were more then just friends, but she pushed the thought to the back of her mind. She was sure that there would be more than enough time to question Emily about it at a later point. A small tug on her hand brought her back to the here and now, and she followed Emily and Helena inside the Smithsonian; "But isn't this museum closed?" The young Agent asked, wondering who the Englishwoman really was, so far she only knew her name after all.

"Not if you are one of the resident scientists who owns a key and likes to work during the night, because she gets awkward when all the people are walking around." Helena answered with a half serious smile as she stepped into the old building, allowing the other two women to pass her before she closed and locked the door behind them. "I'm going back to my office, you know where to find me when you are ready to leave, right?"

"Yes, we'll come to your office before we leave." Emily promised with a smile as she watched as her friend retreated in the direction of her office. Emily had been here a couple of times before, ever since Helena landed the job at the Smithsonian they had picked their friendship back up, and generally saw each other at least once a month. They had tried dating for a little while but that hadn't worked out for the two of them.

The two FBI Agent's watched as Helena disappeared down the hall. JJ turned toward Emily and gaped at her, half excited half exasperated; "Oh my God! What did you do Emily? How am I ever going to top this date?" The blonde exclaimed with a smile.

"Sweetie, you ain't seen nothing yet." The brunette smiled and reached her hand up to cup the blonde's cheek. "Besides, you deserve it." For some reason, whenever Emily thought of the perfect first date with JJ, this had been what she had in her mind and she was excited that finally she could let that dream come true. She was finally here on a date with JJ and nothing could stop her now, she leaned in and kissed the younger blonde.

"Thank you." The media liaison whispered softly between kisses.

"You don't have to thank me." Emily said as she took JJ's hand in hers and lead them toward the exhibit she wanted to show her. The hallways were illuminated enough for them to find their way, bathing them in gold coloured rays. The second they stepped inside the room, JJ knew what they were doing there, a butterfly exhibit. A huge grin appeared on JJ's face and she instantly turned toward Emily and kissed her passionately.

They spent the next hour or so walking between the several parts of the exhibit to end up in the butterfly garden. A beautiful place filled with trees, plants and many different coloured butterflies. JJ was in complete awe of the beautiful environment they were in. The beauty of the garden around them made the two women feel privileged, especially in their line of work with all the horror they see on a daily bases they enjoyed the silent refuge.

Emily guided them to a bench in the middle of the garden and sat them down. They looked all around them, at the butterflies flying from one tree to another, shimming in the yellow glow of the lights that were scattered around the garden area. For a few minutes neither woman spoke, instead just comfortably basked in the scenic and peaceful atmosphere, until the brunette opened her mouth to break the silence.

"Jennifer?" She asked, using JJ's full name, which immediately got her complete attention. She had a feeling that whatever Emily was going to say was something important as the mood shifted slightly to a more intense one.

"This is what I wanted for so long, and I'm so happy that I finally have the chance to be open with you about my feelings. This place just seemed like the perfect place for a first date." Emily endeavoured to explain before she leant in and gently kissed the younger woman. Tears were brimming in the blonde's eyes; she closed them and kissed Emily back.

"This is perfect." She agreed between kisses, voice thick with emotion as she placed her hand on Emily's neck to hold her close. She herself however, moved back to allow Emily to see the emotion etched on her face and the tears in her eyes. Good tears, happy tears; "Thank you so much, this is truly perfect."

"Oh sweetie, don't cry." Emily pleaded quietly, beginning to absorb JJ's emotions as they affected her own.

"These are good tears! I am _so_ happy right now." JJ leaned in and hugged the older brunette, wrapping her arms around her and feeling completely content. Right now in this moment, she knew that she had made the right choice. They sat there for a little while longer, softly talking, enjoying their company and the environment before they headed back to Helena's office to tell her that they were leaving. Helena smiled when she saw them and insisted that they would have to go on a lunch soon.

Hand in hand, the lovebirds walked back to the car, and even though it was something new in their relationship, it felt good, a natural progression. Upon arriving at the car, Emily announced that she had made a reservation at a restaurant. Curious as she was, JJ tried to figure out which restaurant they were going to, but like before the brunette wouldn't even give her a hint.

The younger blonde even tried to get an answer by leaning in to kiss Emily when they stopped at a traffic light, and when that didn't help, she innocently placed her hand on Emily's knee, inching it up her leg ever so slightly. It was something that had always gotten Will to spill his beans, but either it didn't work on Emily, or she was better at resisting the teasing. Though she did feel pride boil to the surface when she noticed the blush colouring Emily's cheeks when a nearby lamp post shone on her face.

Emily, on her part, was more determined than ever to keep her mouth shut, simply because she didn't think that she would be able to speak a full sentence without stumbling due to the advances JJ made on her. This was a new experience, she had never seen this side of JJ and she was somewhat surprised. This side of JJ hadn't even been noticeable when everyone had known she was with Will, the only real display of affection anyone had caught was the kiss she'd initiated in Miami, the kiss that had of course almost killed her.

But that was all in the past; Will was not in the picture anymore, not as far as JJ was concerned anyway. Of course he would, in a matter of speaking, always be around because of Henry. But the media liaison was with Emily now. And this was a thought that made the goofy grin on her face grow even wider.

Soon however, much sooner than Emily would have liked, they arrived at their destination; JJ's favourite Mexican restaurant. The blonde media liaison's face lit up immediately upon the realisation. "Emily! This is just perfect! This is an absolutely perfect night. Thank you so much!" JJ could barely hold her excitement in as Emily parked. As soon as she cut the ignition the blonde leant over and pulled the brunette close to her, yet again flushing her with passionate kisses as she thanked her once again.

"Stop thanking me!" Emily ordered with a smile between the kisses; "It's what you deserve." Again came the flattered insistence that JJ deserved nothing less than the best she could possibly give her. She took a quick glance at her watch and noticed the time. "Let's go inside before they give our table to someone else."

The two women made their way towards the restaurant, where they were soon seated at a small table near the back of the room. A waiter took their drink order and handed them both a menu. They sat at the table talking softly to each other. In a way, it was much like the way they would interact with each other on a girls night out, and at the same time it was also very different.

JJ had been in awe to say the least. She had known Emily for a long time and they had been on many girl's nights out, but the brunette had always kept certain aspects of her life private. And one of those things had been the way that she was when she was in a relationship with someone, or at least working towards a relationship. JJ never figured the profiler to be the romantic type, but she was. She had made sure that their date was absolutely perfect. From the Smithsonian to the restaurant, then the way that she had insisted on driving by Garcia's house to pick up Henry so she wouldn't have to worry about picking him up in the morning.

Garcia had been surprised to see the two of them at her doorstep even though JJ had called ahead to let her know they were coming for her son. She threw the door wide open and grinned at the two women in front of her. They had both been gathered in a huge bear hug and she had squealed in their ears, JJ had been sure that she had suffered some permanent hearing loss.

Kevin offered to place Henry's seat in Emily's car, and she reluctantly handed him the key, informing him that she would hunt him down and kill him if he scratched or damaged it inside or out. Kevin swallowed hard, after seeing JJ shoot the guy who tried to kill Penelope, he had known never to mess with these women. And though the blonde was known for her shooting accuracy, he didn't doubt that Emily could do the same. "I... ehm, I will... I'll be careful." He stumbled over his words. JJ jabbed Emily in the ribs with her elbow as she smiled in amusement. Emily though, just shrugged and smiled back; "What? It's an expensive car!"

"You just scared the living daylights out of my boyfriend! He was already scared of you two big bad FBI ladies with guns." Garcia exclaimed. She was so happy for her friends, she had dreamed of the day they would be able to admit to each other what she had seen a long time ago. JJ excused herself and disentangled her arm from around Emily's waist while she went over to the travel crib that held her sleeping son. She hated to do this because she knew that he would wake up, but she knew that he would go back to sleep soon enough. He started crying as she picked him up out of his warm and comfy bed, but cradled him close. "Sweetie, it is just mommy, go back to sleep." She soothed the small boy, who upon hearing, feeling and smelling that it was indeed his mother, soon drifted back to sleep, slumped against her shoulder. Emily grabbed a hold of the bag with Henry's belongings in it, which Garcia handed her before they returned to her car.

When Emily parked the car on JJ's driveway, she had quickly gotten out of the car to help the blonde, who was already gathering her son in her arms. Emily waited till the blonde lifted her young son out of the car seat and started for the door. A moment later, Emily followed her with the bag and the car seat.

She placed the car seat down on the floor and closed the door, JJ was waiting at the bottom of the stairs; "I am going to bring Henry upstairs, I'll be right back. Will you still be here?"

"Of course I will be here." Emily spoke softly, barely audible.

JJ nodded with a smile and turned around to make her way up the stairs with her son who was already asleep on her shoulder. He was weighing heavily on her arms and she was relieved when she placed him in his crib. Luckily his fairy Godmother had already made sure that he was dressed in his pyjama's. Barely minutes after JJ's disappeared upstairs she was descending the stairs to join Emily in the living room.

Please R&R!


	21. Chapter 21

_**AN:** Whenever you think life goes in a certain way chances are that it won't, sorry for the long time between updates life has thrown me some real curveballs. _

**Chapter 21**

As JJ woke up she glanced at the clock and stretched out in the bed, realising that she missed having someone besides her, she missed the warmth of a lover. She missed being woken by their gentle kisses or in turn watching them as they woke up.

JJ reveled in the feeling of the sun playing on her skin as it shone through the curtains. For the first time in what felt like forever she was feeling well rested. Suddenly she realized that Henry hadn't woken her up which was in it's own a rare occurance and while she glanced at the clock again, she was surprised to see that he had apparently slept through the night. With a start she got up and went to check on him, only to find him contently lying in his crib wide-awake. JJ smiled at him and leaned down to pick him up. "Hey baby, did you sleep well?" The blonde asked as he threw his little chubby arms around JJ's neck and gave her a sloppy kiss on the cheek.

"Yes!" He exclaimed happily, not quite able to temper his volume in his excitement.

JJ talked to Henry as she cleaned his diaper and got him dressed before she took him down to the kitchen to prepare their breakfast. She sat Henry down in his high chair with a couple of toys and talked to him all the while she was talking to him while she was cooking. Every now and then the little boy would say something back to her, but often it was something completely unrelated and random. She was looking forward to the moment that his vocabulary and understanding of what was being said would improve to a level were she could really interact with him. The young woman smiled while she watched him take the little pieces of bread and stuff them into his mouth one after another. Every now and then she had to remind him to slow down. While she watched him a plan started to form in her head.

"Henry, would you like to go to the Zoo today? So we can see all the animals I showed you in the book daddy bought for you?"

"Yes, I wannasee elephant!" Henry clapped his hands happily, and then he asked the dreaded question. "Is daddy coming?"

"No, honey, daddy isn't coming." JJ answered with a sad smile, it was the one question you never wanted your child to have to ask. It should be normal for a dad to be around and to go with them on a trip. That was why she kept trying, why she had been so persistent to not give into her feelings for Emily when she was still living with Will. For a while she had thought that she owed it to Henry to make it work with his father, but now she could see that it didn't work. "Maybe I can give aunty Em a call, would you like that?" The blonde asked her young son, knowing that he loved his aunty Em and maybe ... surely also for her own personal reasons.

"Yes! Aunty Em, she come to the Zoo?"

"I'll have to give her a call." JJ picked up her phone and looked down at Henry who was already engrossed in his cars. She dialed the number for Emily before she lost the nerve to do so, it was strange how she never questioned calling Emily before and now she was wondering if she should disturb her on a Saturday morning. However, before the agent could question whether or not to call Emily any further, the line connected and she could hear the brunette say her name. JJ realized that she hadn't said a single word but that through her caller ID Emily knew exactly who it was that called her.

Emily repeated her name; "Jayje? Are you there?"

"Yes, sorry Emily. Yes I am." The blonde smiled; "Sorry, I was distracted by something Henry was doing." She explained softly, utilizing her young son to explain her silence. "I wanted to thank you for last night."

"No problem, I'm glad that you gave me a chance to take you out on a date." The brunette smiled as well; "I'd like to do it more often." She confessed softly while she played nervously with the hem of her tank top before she moved on to a loose thread on her shorts. Her voice sounded steady but her nerves were running havoc inside of her. Instinctively, Emily knew that nothing went wrong, that their date had been comfortable, but at the same time she feared that after all the drama their date had been too easy.

"Emily?" The blonde replied softly, and Emily's heart dropped in her chest. Here it was, she was sure of it. JJ was going to let her down easily. She sucked in a breath and held it. "Em, I would love to go on more dates with you. I had a great time last night." She watched her son, who was still playing with his cars on the floor in front of her. She was surprised when she heard Emily release a breath, which she had obviously been holding. "Em, did you expect me to say something else?" JJ inquired gently.

"No, no of course not!" The brunette replied with a nervous chuckle.

"Well, either you're really confident of yourself or you're not being truthful to me, please don't do that." The blonde replied sternly. "I was worried too, I almost didn't call because I didn't want to seem…I don't know..."

"No, don't worry about that. I think that I've picked up my phone at least half a dozen times to call you but I didn't and then you called me." Emily admitted.

JJ chuckled, relieved that she wasn't the only one who wanted to call the other one. They had it bad, that much was obvious from their phone conversation. To be quite honest, she had never felt more comfortable on a date then she had with the dark haired profiler, once Emily arrived at her house that was. She had really been serious when she wanted to call the date off yesterday when she was getting ready. It had been Garcia who kept her sane and made sure that she wouldn't do anything stupid before Emily arrived at her house. And one look at the brunette had melted all the nervousness away because she saw the same look in her eyes. "Em, the reason I'm calling is that I was planning on going to the Zoo with Henry today and he'd like it if you'd join us?"

The dark haired profiler chuckled; "Who's lying now, Jayje? Henry would like it if I would join you? I sure hope that you would like it as well?"

The usually so well-spoken media liaison had to attempt three separate tries before she was able to speak up; "I would love it if you would come with me and Henry to the Zoo. I don't want to overwhelm you, or push Henry on you..."

"Jayje hush." Emily's words halted the blond from continuing the sentence she had started. "Don't finish what you were about to say. I would be offended if you would finish what you were about to say, I know that you have Henry to think of. But Jayje, I choose you and Henry is part of that package, besides I love the little man and I think that it's a great day for a trip to the Zoo." Emily rambled on while the blonde listened breathlessly.

Tears appeared in the FBI agents' eyes, emotions were running high and she swallowed hard to calm herself down; "Emily, really. You mean that?" JJ turned her attention to her son; "Henry, Emily is joining us on our trip to the Zoo, isn't that cool?"

"Yes, cool!" The little boy yelled happily, before he launched himself into JJ's lap to grab the phone and let Emily hear his 'yes cool' screamed through the device for good measure as well. He was silent for a second before he turned to his mother with a questioning look on his innocent face; "Huh, no one is there?" He said with a questioning look on his face.

"Hi Henry!" Emily said with a smile on her face at the little boys antics. But Henry held the phone away from his ear while he looked up at his mother.

"You have to keep the phone by your ear, otherwise you can't hear anything, sweetie." JJ coached him to hold the phone by his ear, while the child listened with an intense look on his face.

"Hi Henry?" The brunette said again, after all she was able to hear what the blonde had told her son.

"Hi Em'ly. You come to the ..." He snapped his head up at his mother for help. _'Zoo' _JJ told him, he nodded his head before he tried to repeat it; "Sssoooo?"

The profiler kept the chuckle that threatened to escape from doing so and waited patiently for the young child to finish his question; "Yes, Henry I would love to go to the Zoo with you and your mom."

"Cool!" Henry answered with a smile; "Here, mommy." He said while he trusted the phone back in the blonde's hand before he moved back towards his cars. He was already completely focused on his game before JJ even managed to get the phone back to her ear.

"Well, that settles that then. Doesn't it?"

"Yes it does. I'm glad that he likes the idea of me joining the two of you."

"Of course he does, he's crazy about you and Pen. Well he's crazy about all of you. If I say that I am going to see you he always wants to come with me. Anyway, I need to get some things ready and make sure that I have all of Henry's stuff, I think that I need about thirty minutes tops. Would it be a problem for you to come here? We can take my car to the Zoo but it gives me just a little bit more time to prepare." JJ asked the profiler while she tried to think of all the things she could possibly need for a day out.

Emily got up from the couch and walked towards the window, she looked out over the Capitol while she listened to JJ with a smile on her face. "It's no problem at all, I will be there in thirty minutes." Both JJ and Emily said their goodbyes and disconnected their phone call.

Emily pushed herself away from the window and made her way to the stairs, she took them two at a time and was upstairs in a matter of seconds. She rummaged through her closet for a good five minutes to pick out her outfit before getting dressed.

Soon, Emily was in her car driving towards the media liaisons house. She was nervous. Sure she had spent some time with Henry before, but it had been different then, she was a co-worker and a friend of his mother. Now she was a love interest who might in the future potentially become a huge influence in the boy's life, of course depending on how their relationship would develop. And even though Emily had said that she choose the package including JJ's son when she choose her, the mere thought of spending time with the little boy made her a tad bit nervous. She was not used to being around kids.

For the third time in less then twenty-four hours the brunette parked her car in front of the blonde's house and made her way to the front door. The door swung open and a brightly smiling JJ was standing in the door opening. Emily smiled, a little shyly, when she saw that the younger woman was holding her son in her arms.

At first she had wanted to lean in and kiss the media liaison but being confronted with Henry threw her off a little. JJ seemed to notice the hesitation; she took matters into her own hands and pulled the brunette close to her. She kissed the older woman passionately; "I'm glad you could join us." She lingered closely to Emily and gently trailed her fingers along Emily's jaw line.

Emily wanted to step back, but a small hand tugged on her short sleeve; "I wantssa kiss too!" Henry said to Emily with a cheeky smile. The brunette smiled and leaned towards the small boy, she kissed him on his cheek. In response Henry wrapped his small chubby arms around her neck, he leaned closer to Emily making it harder for his mother to hold him. Instinctively Emily reached her arms around him and slowly JJ let go. The media liaison watched her lover and her son together for a few seconds; she let the feeling of utter happiness warm her heart. She hadn't felt this alleviated in a long time.

"Seeing how you're holding Henry, it gives me time to put everything we need in the car. That is if you don't mind holding him a little longer." JJ asked while she bit her lip.

"We'll be fine, won't we little man?" Emily asked the boy in her arms. "Besides, I better get used to this." The blonde grabbed the bag she had placed underneath the coat rack and stepped outside. Emily followed her lover outside; before she could stop Henry he had grabbed and pulled the oversized sunglasses from her dark long hair. He turned them and put them in front of his own eyes. "Those look good on you buddy, what do you think should we maybe see if we can get you some cool big boy sunglasses?"

Before Henry could answer his mother stepped in; "Em, you better get those away from him, lately he has a knack for throwing things. God knows I had to replace mine three times in just as many weeks." JJ smiled while she placed the bag in the back of the car, while the brunette took the glasses from the small child's grabby fingers.

She knew that Emily had never been around children much to begin with and therefore she wasn't used to their antics. However, she was convinced that Emily would soon find her footing; if their relationship went the way the media liaison hoped it would progress. And therefore she decided that it was better to let her handle this situation on her own. Finally Emily managed to retrieve her sunglasses and she hooked them into the back pocket of her jeans away from Henry's grabby hands.

She then took it upon herself to put Henry in his car seat, which was easier said then done. JJ watched on, biting her lip to prevent the chuckle from escaping. Emily stepped back and looked up at the blond with a confused expression on her face; "Apparently you have to be a mere genius like Reid to figure this car seat out." She said with an apologetic smile. JJ stepped in and it took her skillful fingers merely seconds to strap him into the seat. Meanwhile, Emily sat down in the passenger seat waiting for JJ to take them to the Zoo.

_**AN2:** Let me know what you think! _


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22**

A little over an hour after JJ called Emily, she arrived at the house. For the third time in less than twenty-four hours she parked her black Lexus in front of the white house with the picket fence and the front yard. She smiled, it was so the All-American dream house that people imagined when growing up, and yet it was so distinctively JJ.

On one hand the blonde wanted to be the successful FBI Agent, the best in her field at everything she did whether it was on a shooting range, a fitness test or when doing a press conference, she was always working hard. She prided herself on the fact that she managed to escape the small town she grew up in, but in the end, next to her job, she wanted to have the same exact same thing the girls in that town wanted.

The house was a visual representation of that want. The love for her son, the way she had tried to keep her relationship with Will going even though she knew that it would end sooner rather than later. The way JJ took care of the teams every need, and how she always seemed to know what an individual person needed the most at any given moment. Somehow Jennifer Jareau seemed to be able to juggle it all at the same time, a rare talent.

The brunette smiled, the younger agent had always been a dear friend, someone she could lean on. Someone who would always have her back, but she had always wanted more and now that she had a shot at it she would do everything in her might to keep moving forward in their relationship.

Emily stood up and closed the car door behind her; she pushed the alarm button and walked up the path towards the house. Her knuckles had barely touched the door when it flew open revealing a brightly smiling JJ and an equally smiling Henry. "Hi Emily."

The brunette smiled back a little shyly when she saw Henry. Of course she knew that Jennifer had Henry and that he would be part of the situation wherever it would take them, but she wasn't quite sure how to react around the small boy. She wasn't here as just a friend of his mothers like she had been the last time she had seen him, it threw her off a little. She wasn't sure how to react. The blonde seemed to notice the hesitation; and took matters into her own hands. She grasped a handful of Emily's shirt and gently pulled her closer, she kissed the older woman before she leaned back a little and watched her; "I'm glad you came."

"I am glad you called me." Emily answered a little relieved to have passed the initial meeting. When she wanted to step backwards however, she felt a little hand tugging on her sleeve.

"Me wants a kiss too." Henry stated with a smile.

Emily leaned in and kissed the small boy on his cheek and her hand stroked his back. Henry leaned in and kissed Emily back before he wrapped his chubby little arms around her neck. The little boy leaned in even more, making it harder for JJ to hold him. Instinctively, Emily wrapped her arms around his small body and the blonde slowly let go of her son. JJ stepped back and watched her lover with her boy.

"Well, seeing how you're holding him, it gives me chance to get everything we might need into the trunk of the car." JJ smiled at the sight in front of her; "lf you don't mind."

"No, I don't mind, I better get used to this." Emily answered with a smile while she watched the small child in her arms with interest. Truth be told, even though she was in her thirties she had never really been around children much in her life. She was an only child, and when growing up the kind of people her parents befriended were often selfish career minded sophisticated people who didn't care much about children, and if they did have children often a nanny would be the primary caregiver. And now most of the friends she had were also more focused on their careers then anything else. Except for the few times she had seen either Jack Hotchner or Henry Jareau, her experience with kids was very limited.

Emily followed JJ outside, still holding Henry who was babbling in her arms. She was watching the blonde moving around the car and before she could stop him Henry pulled her sunglasses from her long dark hair. He put the extremely oversized glasses in front of his eyes and smiled broadly. "Those look really good on you buddy! Maybe we can get you some really cool big boy sunglasses."

At Emily's words the blonde quickly moved away from the trunk of the car and watched the other woman; "Em! You'd better take those away from him. He's two and has this thing for throwing everything he can get his hands on. God knows I had to replace my sunglasses three times in just as many weeks." The blonde chuckled while she watched the profiler struggle to retrieve her sunglasses from the grabby little hands.

JJ knew that Emily wasn't used to being around kids and that she wasn't used to their antics. She knew however, that soon the brunette would find her footing if their relationship would work out the way the media liaison hoped it would. Finally, Emily managed to grab the glasses and stashed them away in her jeans back pocket before she attempted to get Henry strapped into his car seat.

The media liaison watched on as Emily clumsily attempted to get the boy in the seat, but he resisted every step of the way. Like he always did, he certainly didn't like sitting in the car seat. Emily struggled for a good minute and a half before she stepped back; "Ehm, apparently you need to be a genius like Reid to figure out how to put a kid in a car seat." She smiled apologetically at JJ, and let the younger woman step in. It took the blonde's skillful hands only a few seconds to complete the task. Soon they were on their way to the Zoo and the nervousness that Emily had initially felt when she was confronted with Henry had faded away as she got into JJ's car. But it flared up again when the blonde placed her hand on top of her thigh.

"Relax Em. Everything is fine."

"But Jayje..." Emily said with a small gesture to the back of the car where Henry was sitting blissfully unaware of the tension that flared up.

The blonde moved her hand up Emily's thigh, effectively silencing the brunette; "He's two, he's not aware of what's going on between us. Everything is fine, we're just two adults who are in love taking my son to the Zoo, that's all there is too it."

Emily released a breath she had subconsciously been holding and nodded. She It took a few minutes to get her nerves back in check before she focused her attention on the other two people in the car; "Henry, have you ever been to the Zoo?"

"Yes, with daddy!" The young boy exclaimed.

"Really, which animals did you see with daddy?"

"Froggies!" Henry exclaimed happily. "I like froggies!"

"You do?"

"He's completely into frogs for some reason." JJ told the brunette by matter of explanation; "I think I have Pen to thank for that. Instead of giving him a teddy bear like any other Godmother in the world would have done or a plush lamb or something, she gave him this cute bright green frog when he was born."

Emily smiled and turned around in her seat looking over at Henry; "What about elephants, do you like them?"

"Cool!" Was all that the boy said.

The media liaison chuckled; "He's not a man of many words."

"No, he certainly didn't inherit that from you. Maybe he just has to grow into it." Emily laughed along. "But then again, if I remember correctly his father isn't a man of many words either, except for when you wanted him to keep his mouth shut that is..." The brunette added when she remembered that time at Miami when it had been so obvious that he wanted to tell the team about their relationship or in New York when he so obviously against JJ's will told them about her pregnancy.

JJ nodded, a stern look on her face, but she didn't say anything. Emily wanted to say sorry but decided against it and just watched the road for the next ten minutes until the blonde parked the car. Maybe it wasn't smart to bring Will up during conversations, at least not in a slightly negative way.

It took them a few minutes to get from the car to the entrance of the Zoo where they started their trip around the park. Emily completely surprised the blonde by the knowledge she had of the animals shown in the Zoo. With nearly every species she had a story to tell Henry, JJ doubted that her son understood a word Emily was telling him but she found it particularly amusing that she shared the information with the boy anyway.

When they had lunch later that day, JJ had attempted to inquire the profiler about it but all she said was that she and her father always went to the Zoo wherever her mother was stationed when she was a child, and that he always told her the stories. It was the first time JJ ever heard Emily talk about her father and it was all the information she got out of her. The media liaison tried to ask more questions but the brunette refused to release any more information than she already had. An awkward silence fell over them while they continued eating lunch.


	23. Chapter 23

_**AN:** I am participating in Nanowrimo, hence the long time between posting chapters but this is an extra long chapter to make up for that. And I can tell you that my nano project is a Criminal Minds fic as well, and of course it is Emily/JJ._

**Chapter 23**

After their lunch break they continued their walk through the Zoo and Emily continued to tell Henry all about the different animals. The blonde listened intensely, and she couldn't help but wonder why the brunette had closed up when she had asked her about her knowledge. However, she decided not to broach the subject again anytime soon.

Later on when their day at the Zoo was coming to a halt, Emily had insisted that they should go to an ice cream parlor which sold original Italian ice cream. It was the best in all of Washington according to the brunette. Soon there after they strolled back towards the car and the blonde drove back to her house.

"What about pizza, or Chinese ... No, I know, Thai food, and then we can have a quite night..." The last sentence was spoken softer than how she had spoken before. She seemed a little nervous as she turned her head towards the brunette for a moment. "That's your favorite right?"

Emily smiled; "You know me all too well."

"Well, how about it?" JJ questioned with a smile, again paying attention to the road ahead of her.

"Sounds like a plan to me." The brunette agreed with the blonde.

"Good, I'm not ready to say goodbye yet." The younger woman confessed, glad that she could focus on the traffic around her instead of on the profiler next to her. She wasn't sure if she would have been able to make that confession looking straight at Emily.

"Me either, Jayje. Me either." The profiler turned her gaze out the window, and a smile played on her lips. The occupants in the car fell into a comfortable silence for the rest of the drive, until JJ parked the car in her driveway.

"Em, I'm sorry to ask you this but could you maybe get our things, well mostly my things, out of the car while I get Henry upstairs? I'm pretty sure that he's out for the count. And when I come back downstairs you and I can have a quite evening together."

"Anything specific you want me to order?" Emily asked the younger woman while she watched her carefully.

The younger woman moved closer towards Emily, she kissed her softly before moving backwards with a teasing smile; "You're the profiler, figure it out." She made a swift move and blonde hair brushed along Emily's hands as she spoke with a chuckle before she quickly got out of the car.

Emily watched, stunned that the other woman was such a tease. She never would have figured that JJ kept this side of herself hidden so well, but then again in their line of work there wasn't really any room for teasing. Besides that there was of course the fact that it was hard to trump Garcia's teasing.

She got out of the car, nodding her head in disbelieve. She never would have pegged JJ to be such a tease, but she had apparently be wrong. She held her hand out and asked JJ for her keys. The blonde handed them to her before she bent into the car and picked up her sleeping son.

Meanwhile, the brunette opened the trunk and gathered the diaper bag and the stroller. She closed the trunk and followed JJ towards the house while she locked the doors with the remote. Once she opened the door JJ took her young son upstairs. Emily placed the bag and the stroller underneath the coat rack and made her way into the kitchen. She picked a menu from the fridge and sat down at the kitchen counter. Her eyes flew over the menu and she made a choice, dialed the number and placed their order. She sat at the breakfast counter in the middle of the kitchen patiently waiting for JJ to return.

Absentmindedly, Emily went through her phone menu until she reached the gallery; she glowed at some of the pictures she had taken during their trip to the Zoo. She stopped flipping through the pictures when she reached a particular one that showed JJ and Henry and herself.

They had asked a woman who was visiting the Zoo with her family. It had been JJ's idea; she had claimed that there also needed to be a picture of the three of them, given that it was either JJ who took a picture of Henry and Emily or vice versa. The woman had smiled and agreed if they would take a picture of her and her family too, which of course the two agents had agreed to do. When she handed the phone back to Emily she had commented on what a cute son they had.

Emily had wanted to set the woman straight by telling her that Henry wasn't hers, but JJ had just grabbed her hand to silence her and thanked the woman. It had been a strange situation but neither of them had said anything about it since it happened. The brunette was still thinking about it when JJ suddenly appeared behind her. The young blonde wrapped her arms around Emily and startled the woman; she placed her chin on the profilers shoulder and murmured sorry.

Emily chuckled; "You just startled me, no need to say sorry. I was just lost in thought and hadn't noticed you walking in."

"That is a cute picture." JJ commented while she watched the picture on Emily's phone. "Can you send it to mine?"

The brunette placed her hand on top of JJ's, which was still gently placed on her middle. "Sure I can. Thanks for taking me with you, I loved it."

"Good, I had a great time as well, but it's not over yet. Today I mean." She added to be certain that the brunette got what she meant. The blonde placed a kiss on the profiler's cheek, she reluctantly let go of Emily and turned around.

She placed her back against the breakfast counter, while Emily turned in her seat. She placed her hands on the media liaisons hips and pulled the blonde closer to her. JJ moved in-between Emily's legs, gently placing her hands on the brunette's thighs and moved even closer towards her.

JJ leaned in and kissed the older woman, their kiss rapidly turning into something more, an exploratory kiss which soon turned into a battle for control. Emily wrapped her arms around the younger woman; she reveled in the warm closeness of their bodies. The only thing that tore them apart was the bell signaling that their food arrived.

The blonde pushed herself away from the brunette with reluctance. The profiler pulled her closer and kissed her briefly before she released her hold; "The faster we answer the door the faster we can continue this. And I promise you we will continue this." She said; her voice holding a confidence of a promise she would collect on later.

JJ smiled, and pushed herself away again; "Hmm, that sounds good. I better go and pay the delivery boy then."

"Oh, I think you should ... quickly." The brunette said with an undertone in her voice, one the blonde had never heard before, at least not from her brunette counterpart. She swallowed hard before she watched the brunette turn around and search the cabinet for plates and glasses.

JJ quickly spun on her feet and made her way into the hallway to answer the door. She was sure that by her flushed looks the deliver boy could guess why it took her so long to answer the door. He handed her the bag of steaming hot Thai food, which she placed on the floor next to the door before she proceeded handing over the money, she tipped him generously. He couldn't be more then sixteen years old but before she had a chance to close the door he wished her a good evening with the most cheeky smile she had ever seen on a boy that young. Well at least not since she herself had been that young.

JJ closed the door with an amused smile, and when she turned around to move back towards the kitchen she caught her own reflection in the mirror. Indeed she did have a flushed appearance, but that was not the only thing that gave her away. What stood out even more was the smudged evidence of lipstick, which wasn't only her own color but also Emily's. She traced a finger along her swollen lips while a smile appeared on them. She turned around to move back towards the kitchen, where she found Emily leaning against the door frame with a devious smile on her lips.

"You let me answer the door looking like this?" JJ asked the question she didn't need to ask, the answer was written all over Emily's face.

"Yes, I wanted to tell you how good my color of lipstick looked on you, but I figured that the poor delivery boy had been waiting so long already, so I planned on telling you after he left." She told the younger woman while she tried to contain a serious face but failing miserably. The sparkle gave her away the second JJ raised her eyes and watched the brunette.

"Tease, you can be sure that payback's gonna be a bitch!" The blonde claimed before she tried to pass the older woman in the doorway, but Emily hadn't stepped back as JJ assumed she would do.

She squared her shoulders and embraced the younger woman; "Sorry Jayje, I just loved the way you looked and before I could say anything you were already out of the kitchen..."

"Right, just so you know you aren't the only one who enjoyed it."

"Whaddya mean?" The brunette asked between kisses, slightly stumbling over the words.

"The delivery boy, the barely sixteen year old _immature_ delivery boy, enjoyed it as well." The media liaison elaborated; "He wished us a good evening, he even had the nerve to give me a wink when he said it with his way too confident cheeky smile!" At the end of the sentence her voice had raised a few octaves.

"Oh, let him have his fun, it's not like he actually saw anything. I would have had to kill him if he had." She answered with a smirk.

She wrapped her hand around the handle of the bag and took a hold of it, she setting the food down on the table to start to unwrap the containers, filling her plate with all of her favorite Thai food.

JJ joined Emily at the kitchen counter and grabbed a bottle of wine from the fridge and poured it into two glasses. The blonde watched on as the brunette moved confidently through her kitchen to grab some utensils from the drawer and back to the cabinet for another plate. Emily turned around back to the counter and noticed the look on JJ's face; "What?" she asked a little confused.

"Nothing." She said with a faint smile playing on her lips. She liked the confidence with which Emily moved through her kitchen, taking control of the situation. It had taken Will a long time before he moved that freely around JJ's house. When he first moved to DC, everything had been new and strange, she understood that but the fact that he had been so uncomfortable in her house had made her feel uncomfortable as well. It had almost made her agree that they should find a new house, now she was glad that they never made the move, she was happy here. She had paid for this house by working as hard as she did.

While JJ was thinking about all of this Emily had fixed her a plate as well. Emily had watched her with a concerned look, and when the blonde didn't reply to her question she was even more concerned. She moved closer towards the younger woman and gently touched her arm, JJ seemed to startle at her touch and snapped her head up at her. "Em'ly." She said softly.

"You are not really mad at me, are you?" The brunette asked the younger woman, getting a little more worried with each passing minute.

"Me? No, why would I be mad at you?" The media liaison was slightly confused by Emily's question and her apparent insecurity.

"Well, for one you didn't respond when I asked you what you wanted to eat, so I prepared a plate for you and secondly, you were thinking about something … reminiscing maybe ..." The brunette was rambling and she knew it. She was aware that she was doing it, between profiler's there was the unspoken rule that you would not profile each other, but she was also well aware that she wasn't able to read her as well as she would be able to with other people.

"I am sorry, I didn't think that I was gone for so long. I was just thinking, I just noticed how easy you are moving through my house. With such confidence... and I like it." JJ confessed a little shyly.

"Oh, ehm I am sorry I didn't mean to intrude." Emily said while she nervously dragged her fingers through her long dark hair.

The blond moved closer towards the profiler; "Didn't you hear what I said, I like it. I was thinking about when Will first moved in how out of his comfort zone he seemed, he would always ask if he needed something. It made the whole situation at first really stressful because we didn't feel comfortable around each other. Of course there was also the added stress of a less than planned pregnancy, don't get me wrong I don't regret that now but it did put a lot of stress on that relationship. I was thinking how much different things are with you, now." The blond said while she moved closer towards Emily and kissed her. "I am not mad at you, I have no reason to be mad or anything of that nature. Common' let's take our dinner to the living room maybe we can watch a movie or two."

_**Reviews are crucial, let me know what you think! **_


	24. Chapter 24

**AN: So I participated in Nanowrimo and I won! I wrote a fanfiction piece, Emily/JJ of course so I already know what my next story is going to be and I have already 50 000 something words written. Of course that doesn't help you with this story, so without further interruption here is the next chapter:**

**Chapter 24**

Sitting on the couch next to Emily, JJ pushed some buttons on the remote control before settling down into the cushions. "I hope you like this." She said with a smile while the dvd started to play.

Emily chuckled, chewing her food and swallowing before she opened her mouth to reply; "I'm sure that right now I will like anything you make me watch." She smirked, her next bite interrupted by a squeal from the blonde next to her.

"Em!" The brunette snapped her head towards the squealing younger woman; "I never figured you to be so cheesy!" JJ elaborated with a shrug, the tone of her voice was still raised higher than it usually was.

"You're one to talk, you're squealing! I mean Garcia has that one down to a tee, but you? I never knew you could do it too!" The brunette smiled; "Besides, I might be cheesy but I'm speaking the truth."

"Right ..." Was all the blonde said before she returned to stabbing at her food with the chopsticks. She felt nerves begin to rush through her while she pushed the food around her plate. They sat in silence for a while both of them engaged in their own thoughts.

But as the time ticked by, Emily became more and more worried about JJ, who appeared to be getting increasingly less comfortable and was nervously picking at her food. "Jayje? What's going on?" The brunette watched the obvious anxious blonde.

"What … ehm, what're you talking about?" The blonde said leaning forward – knowing that the older woman would not be able to see her face, and she would not be able to read her - while she reached for her glass. She swirled her red wine around, watching it intensely while the dark red liquid moved around in perfect circles.

"Jayje, you're obviously nervous about something. I can't remember ever seeing you this nervous, and I've seen you in quite a few different occasions in which any person would have been nervous as hell, but you didn't even break out in a sweat and took care of the situation. So seeing you this nervous is actually quite worrisome." Emily spoke softly, speaking each word carefully while she contemplated them before actually uttering them.

JJ's movements halted and she looked up, swallowing hard; "So we're actually going to do this?"

"Do what?" The profiler asked confused.

"Have sex..." The blonde said softly, the last word was barely audible before she took a sip from her wine and gulped it down hastily.

Emily laughed softly; "You don't have to be nervous about that! We won't do anything you're not ready to do." She elaborated, hoping that it would explain her laugh – she hadn't meant to laugh at JJ's fears but the laugh had escaped from her mouth because she was glad that it wasn't something more serious that had JJ so worried – the brunette looked back at the blonde.

She moved closer, making sure that she had JJ's attention before she continued; "I would never do anything you weren't ready for, and as hard as it might be that includes any form of intimacy. I want to be in a relationship with you, this is not just a quick roll in the hay."

The blonde let out a shaky breath, which she hadn't known she was holding before she even dared to glance up at Emily. "I'm glad." She answered softly before she rested her head on the brunette's shoulder, finally relaxing the tense muscles in her body.

She pulled her legs up on the couch and placed the plate on the table, sure that she was done eating even though she had barely touched her food. Emily smiled and wrapped her arm around the blonde. The two women sat in silence for a while watching the movie – though neither one of them really seemed to follow what the movie was about.

"What if I'm no good at it?" The media liaison muttered after a while.

Every thought process in Emily's mind came to a halt at that simple question. "What if you are no good at it? At what? Sex? With a woman? There is no good or bad at it, Jayje. First times are never easy but I'm sure that it's not something you should worry about. Who says that _I'm_ any good at it?"

"Oh please, as if you have something to worry about. At least it's familiar ground for you, while I'm rediscovering … new found land." She added with a devious smirk.

"That's just … really Jayje, could you not have found a different way to express that thought?" The brunette asked with a grossed out face. "Besides that, why would I not have anything to worry about?" Emily asked the blonde – the movie was long since forgotten as it continued to play on the flat screen television across the room.

"Well, let's just face the facts here, you know what you're doing, there is _no_ way around it."

"That might be true, but who says that I'm any good at it?" The brunette countered again.

"Oh come on, Emily! We both know that you are quite the player when you want to be. And we both know that you have used it to your advantage."

"Yes, maybe, but usually I don't stay around long enough to ask if I was any good." Emily huffed; "And second dates are hardly ever on the menu."

"So what you're telling me is that I'm getting all worked up for nothing?"

"Yes, basically. Let's just enjoy what we have and take it day by day and if we have to, hour by hour. We're in no rush; I have waited so long for this, I'm sure that I can hold off on sex a little longer. Although I personally prefer the term lovemaking when it comes to you. Sex is what I had with those other women. This is different." She knew that her confession could be interpret as basically saying 'I love you' without actually saying those three dreaded words, but she felt like she had to say it, she needed to make sure that JJ got what she was telling her.

The blonde smiled and leaned her head against Emily's arm, her hand wrapped around the older woman's midsection, and the smile on her face was one of utter content. The brunette's smile matched the blonde's, and finally their eyes came to rest on the television screen, staring at the movie neither one of them had followed.

A few minutes later the brunette choose to speak up; "Does it make sense if we continue watching this movie right now, seeing how we've already missed half of it?"

The blonde yawned before giving an answer and looked up at the profiler who chuckled; "Well I guess that answered my question, maybe you should get some sleep while I go home." She had trouble hiding the sadness when she mentioned the word 'home'.

"No! Please stay." The blonde answered quickly while she pushed herself up and kissed Emily; "Please stay, I want you to stay."

"It's getting late-ish, maybe I should go." The older woman said with a smile while she tried to get up however the blond was relentless and she wouldn't let go of her.

"No! Are you really going to make me beg!" The media liaison watched the brunette with her big blue eyes. "I'd like it if you would stay here tonight. I'm not ready for … well the whole … ehm take it to the next level intimacy thing but I ... eh, would really like it if you would stay here so that in the morning I can wake up in your arms." The last words were rambled off quickly while she inspected her nails intensely.

Emily smiled at her obvious nervousness regarding the question she had just asked; the brunette leaned in and kissed the blond. "Okay."

The one word answer was spoken softly between kisses.


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter 25**

The following weeks continued in much the same way. They worked cases while they tried to stay professional, which was not always easy. Especially not when you had Garcia 'screwing' up room reservations more than once - and when they were in DC a lot of time was spent together. Emily particularly spent less and less time at her expensive and typical bachelorette apartment and more time at JJ's cosy home.

It was a couple of weeks after that first night when Emily stayed at JJ's house when the landline rang. The two women had been sitting on the floor with Henry completing a puzzle, Emily remained seated and helped Henry to finish the last two pieces while JJ got up and picked the phone up from it's cradle.

At first Emily didn't pay attention to it, but while Henry jumped up and threw himself in her arms she suddenly noticed that JJ's smile had turned into a frown as she listened intently. The brunette divided her attention between the squealing boy in her arms and the blonde on the phone. She tickled Henry and he laughed happily, completely unaware of his mothers change in demeanor - for that Emily was grateful.

"Will, I'm not sure." The blonde media liaison sighed; "No, that's not it. No Will, we should have have some time apart." She was silent for a few seconds and 8sighed again before she started talking, the tone of her voice sounded more and more frustrated with each spoken word; "Will, we've only been apart for a few weeks, if you want to see Henry you can come over here and pick him up but I don't think that we should go anywhere together."

Emily tried her best to keep Henry entertained and unaware of what was going on as she tried to figure out what was happening. "Yes, you can pick him up Friday night, yes sure he can stay with you till Sunday afternoon. Will, he's your son, I'm not going to fight you or keep him away from you. I told you that already." JJ closed her eyes as she wrapped her arm around her small frame.

Her shoulders were tensed, her head hung, as she listened to her son's father on the other end of the phone. "No, as far as I know right now there are no cases that will require us to go somewhere, but if that changes I will let you know. Bye." As the blonde slammed the phone down in its cradle, she remained standing in front of the cabinet with her back towards Emily and Henry.

"Hey buddy, why don't you go get your _Buzz Lightyear_?" The brunette suggested to Henry, watching her girlfriend who was standing rooted to the spot rubbing her temples and breathing in and out deeply.

Meanwhile, Henry got up and squealed; "_To infinity and beyond!_" - as ran off in search for the much beloved toy. Emily got up from the floor as well, smiling as she knew that the blonde media liaison was sometimes worried about his speech development, but who could be worried if an almost three year old squealed _'To infinity and beyond' _at any given moment.

The brunette quickly made her way towards the younger woman, - lately she had spent most of her time with JJ and Henry and if she knew one thing it was that the little boy would not be away for long. Emily wrapped her arms around the blonde and pushed her body flush against the media liaison's back. Her hands were placed on top of JJ's and her chin rested on her shoulder before she spoke softly; "Are you okay? What's going on?"

She wanted to know what was going on because she knew that the minute Henry returned their conversation would be postponed to a later moment. Neither one of them wanted to potentially speak bad of the boys father when he was around.

"Will." The younger woman sighed; "Will wants to meet Henry and me for a family outing this weekend. Does he really not get it!" She exclaimed with a frustrated sigh; "Honestly, I thought that I could put an end to that part of my life! I really believed that he finally got that we are over."

"We can tell him ... about us, I mean. If you want." Emily was nervous; it would be the first time that they would tell anyone about their relationship. So far it had been a well-kept secret between JJ, Emily and Garcia. They both knew that it probably would not last all that long because the chance that Henry would out them was getting bigger with every passing day.

"I'm not sure if I'm ready to tell him." The blonde announced, making Emily feel her heart crumble. She released the loving hold she had previously had on the blonde. At that moment Henry returned to the living room proudly yelling that he found his _'Buss Lightyear' _and _'Woody'._

JJ turned around quickly; her eyes were big while she looked at Emily. "That is NOT what I meant, Emily!" The blonde exclaimed, tears watered her eyes while she shook her head. "I know that sounded wrong but that is not what I meant! Please let me explain!" JJ desperately looked around trying to find something to occupy Henry with so she could explain what she meant to the brunette who had moved away from her.

She quickly retreated into the kitchen and returned with a DVD they had brought home earlier for Henry to watch. Quickly, she pushed the DVD into the player and made sure that she had Henry's full attention. The brunette hadn't moved from her spot since JJ's statement, silently watching as the younger woman occupied her son in front of the television.

After all, computers, game consoles and televisions were often referred too as virtual nannies; she might as well make the best of it. She quickly retreated into the kitchen after she made sure that Henry was preoccupied with the movie and pulled the brunette with her.

"I don't doubt our relationship, I don't doubt you and I. Please believe me, I know that what I said might have sounded like I did but ... the problem is that a long time ago Will _'warned'_ me about you. No, let me explain." JJ said while she raised her hand to stop the brunette across from her.

"Soon after Will moved here we had a couple of dinners together with the team because I wanted him to feel accepted and I hoped that he would find some friends here as well - which never really happened - anyway he told me that he had seen you watching me and that he was sure that you were going to make a move on me. Don't ask me how he knew since none of the profilers we work with seem to be the wiser. But he saw something and he literally said that he feared that he would loose me to you. At the time I told him that he was wrong, but I've always wondered how wrong he really was. Now that I know the answer to that question, I fear telling him that we're together because I'm afraid that he'll lash out and try to get custody of Henry. He'll never believe that nothing happened until after we broke up."

The last words died on JJ's lips as her emotions took control and tears started to roll down her cheeks. She was no longer able to keep her feelings in check; the fear that she had tried to keep down for weeks finally came to the surface.

Half way through the speech, Emily saw where she was going and she had moved closer, wrapping her arms around the younger woman. "We don't have to tell him just yet, though there will be a moment where he has to be told. He'll get suspicious if Henry talks about the two of us all the time anyway." The blonde had her head buried in the older woman's shoulder, her sobs were heart breaking, and Emily's hands were running up and down JJ's back along her spine. "Don't worry, Jayje. We'll make it work. We don't have to tell him now. I'm sorry that I doubted you."

"Don't apologize, I should have talked to you sooner. I've been worried about this since we started dating." JJ confessed.

"We're in a relationship together, you shouldn't have to deal with this alone." Emily gently pried JJ from her body and gazed at her - her hands rested on the blonde's shoulders - when their blue and brown eyes met a smile appeared on both of their faces through the tears. "Let's go watch that movie with Henry." Emily kissed JJ softly before she guided her back to the living room.

They moved into the living room and sat down on the couch, soon, both women were engrossed in the movie, every now and then breaking their attention to glance at one another and smile or share a kiss.

Henry immediately climbed into JJ's lap once his mother sat down next to him, and watched the movie with his thumb in his mouth. Emily watched the movie for a while before she got up and retreated to the kitchen to start preparing dinner. When JJ wanted to follow her she told the blonde that she should watch the rest of the movie with her son.

Ever since they had been together most of the cooking was done by Emily, who loved to prepare their meals while JJ often spent that time with her son or they attempted to help Emily. When Emily was younger her parents often had help at the house that would also prepare meals. She remembered getting home from school and spending a lot of her time the kitchen with Marie while she prepared dinner.

The woman had taught her how to cook and the brunette had never forgotten any of it. Her skills came in handy now, she had taken it upon herself to cook dinner and make sure that JJ could spend some much needed one on one time with Henry. As far as she was concerned it was the perfect solution.

Emily grabbed the cutting block from the cabinet and started to cut the vegetables in pieces while she processed the events that happened earlier. She scolded herself for not paying better attention - she was trained to profile people and even though she tried not to profile JJ she should have at least been able to see that something had been bothering her. She could have eased the worries the younger woman had, or at the very least they could have shared them.

Emily promised herself, and silently to JJ, that in the future she would keep an eye on things and make sure that the younger woman wouldn't have to worry about these type of things on her own.


	26. Chapter 26

**AN: **My uber-awesome beta Geekbardzero really did a lot of editing on this chapter! Thanks! I appreciate it, you made this a lot better than it was. :)

**Chapter 26**

Their lives together as a couple took form over the following weeks in which they both became more and more comfortable sharing every silly little detail of their lives together. JJ learnt that Emily was secretly a very romantic person who loved singing to every song on the radio. While the brunette found out that the blonde was a horrible cook, making Emily wonder how she ever survived when she had no one around to cook for her, and that JJ also loved taking photographs, something Emily had never known about the blonde either. But in the few weeks the two had been together, many pictures had been made and a couple of them found a place around the house.

JJ had decided that she had to come clean with Will, and two weeks after the nerve racking phone call, she had called him back and set up a time to meet up with him.

They had met in a diner nearby, sharing a meal together while JJ told the Southern man about her relationship with Emily. The brunette had stayed at the blondes house with Henry while his parents talked. Will had been mad, furious even, he had questioned JJ's honesty about the start of their relationship and he insisted that he ask Emily the same questions he asked JJ.

At first the blonde didn't want him to talk to Emily, but she knew that it was important for him to get some kind of closure. He would have to come to terms with the fact that their relationship was over. JJ had expected that he would not believe her since he had told her before that he thought that the brunette was gay and wanted to be in a relationship with JJ, which she, at the time, had brushed off as untrue. And at that time she had been convinced that it was indeed untrue.

Therefore, having expected the possibility of Will's reaction and the need for him to talk to Emily, the blonde had brought it up the night before, figuring it would be the quickest way to resolve things. Thankfully, her girlfriend was on the same page as she was and agreed to talk to Will if necessary.

JJ sat at the diner with Will across from her, waiting for his initial anger to subside. It had taken a while before he had calmed down enough for JJ to even consider taking him home with her to talk to Emily, but eventually he simmered down enough, and the blonde hoped that he would be able to get his issues with the dark haired profiler out of the way once and for all.

If not, then at least the both of them could act civilized around each other, because in the future the two of them would have to meet face to face, that was inevitable if JJ wanted to continue seeing Emily. It hadn't been an easy conversation, but in the end Will seemed content with the answers he got, even though he made it very clear that the brunette would never take his place in Henry's life. The dark haired woman had nodded and told him that she could never replace his daddy, but that he would have to accept that she would have some kind of a role in the little boys life also. Will had agreed – though it was clear that he didn't like it one bit – but he would take what he could get. That day Will had spent some time with Henry before he went home to the apartment he had recently found.

Since that day, except for some random times when he had either picked Henry up or dropped him off, neither woman had really talked to him. JJ felt like she could finally breathe again, the worse case scenario she had anticipated had never happened, and relief settled in as the strain on her relationship with Emily had been lifted. It had become a lot easier now that Will knew about them, and the blonde didn't have to hide things around him in fear that he would try to take her son away, the difference between she and Emily was significant.

Most of the brunette's clothes had found their way into the large closet the blonde had in her bedroom, and Emily, who had once been proud of her expensive apartment across town, now had to remind herself to go to her place every once in a while to check on her mail and water the plants. Usually, at the end of the day both of their cars were parked on the driveway outside of JJ's two-story house.

But no matter how comfortable they were in their relationship together, no one at work was any the wiser, except for Garcia of course. The now red headed technical analyst took great pleasure in teasing the other two women into outing themselves to their small dysfunctional family, but she would never tell their secret to anyone without their consent.

Both Emily and JJ were worried about what might happen when they outed their relationship at work. Would they be allowed to work together while they stayed on the same team, or would one or both of them be transferred? They both knew that the FBI was not really open to inner-office relationships in most cases – though there had been exceptions in the past. Though to be quite honest, neither one of them believed that they would become that exception, since Strauss wouldn't be open to allowing such a thing when she had tried so many times before to wreck their team.

Emily especially feared for her job, given that Strauss had tried to get rid of her before, when she didn't agree to spy on their team. The stone cold bitch seemed to favour JJ, probably because she had a purpose for keeping the young media liaison around, the bureau chief never did anything unless it was in her best interest, after all.

However, no matter how worried about her job she might have been, Emily knew that she would never have to worry about money and she was well enough connected to find a new job if she needed and wanted one. She had told the blonde that if it came to one of them leaving the BAU it would be her who would leave. JJ had protested with all that she had, but in the end Emily's arguments had been strong, too strong for her to counter them.

First of all, JJ needed her job to provide for her and Henry since the blonde insisted that she didn't want to be dependant on Will, or on Emily for that matter. And as the brunette had put it, there were more profilers on the team and only one media liaison, so Hotch needed her more. They had a heavy discussion on the subject, yet still up to this moment, they still hadn't agreed on whether or not they should tell their friends about their relationship. So for now they had agreed that they would just continue on the way it was right now until they could find an answer.

All in all, as their relationship blossomed and seemed to work, other related stuff had kept them on edge and then of course there was the intimacy issue. Though they had become more intimate, they still hadn't gone all the way.

The date that JJ had been planning meticulously for tonight would change that, however, with the blonde knowing she had to let Emily know that she was ready. Not one detail had been left to chance, everything had been planned to be perfect.

She had made sure that Garcia could babysit Henry, and she had booked a table at a fancy new restaurant. She'd insisted that Emily go home to her apartment tonight to get ready for their date, stating that she would pick the older woman up.

Having the house to herself meant she would have enough time to prepare everything and get dressed for the date without the brunette's knowledge of what was going on, though she was sure that Emily might have had an idea of what could be happening later that night, but she didn't need to know everything beforehand.

The media liaison was excited and she had an extremely hard time concentrating on her job, hoping that every phone call she received was only a request for a consult or something that didn't require the team heading out of town or even the whole team. She was relieved when it was finally time to go home.

Nothing could stand in the way of their date, not tonight.

_Let me know what you think! R&R please! _


	27. Chapter 27

**AN: I am so so sorry, I was truly convinced that I had already posted this chapter which i apparently hadn't. I was working so hard on the next chapter that it completely slipped my mind. I am so sorry! Nevertheless without further ado I hope that you can enjoy this chapter and I look forward to hearing what you think about it!**

**Chapter 27**

JJ was nervous. This was it, the night that would change everything. She felt as if she was a teenager again, on one hand she was eager for it to happen, while at the same time she was wishing that it would all be over so she could leave the nervousness behind and just enjoy being intimate with Emily.

Garcia had picked Henry up, this was one night she didn't want to deal with Will. It would just be too strange to ask him to come pick up his son so that she could have sex with her new lover. Him knowing that she loved Emily was one thing, rubbing it in his face would just be cruel, which is why she asked the technical analyst instead. The redhead loved her godson, and she didn't mind watching him at all.

Garcia had been teasing JJ all week about the date and the media liaison had mostly ignored it, or at least, tried to ignore it as best as she could, which had been incredibly hard and a true test. There had been moments where she wanted to tell the others just so that Garcia would stop teasing her, or at least would make it possible for her to get through a meeting with the team without the redheads comments trying to get her to mess up.

She quickly ran upstairs to make sure that everything was in order before she took a shower and got dressed. She had exactly an hour and a half before she had to leave to pick Emily up at her apartment.

She checked the bedroom, everything seemed to be in order, well maybe not exactly in order like it usually was but everything was exactly the way she wanted it to be. Candles were placed on the bedside tables and rose petals scattered across the bed.

Yes, she was a sappy romantic! She just hoped that Emily would appreciate it, but to be honest she had no idea, the whole situation was making her nervous and she was starting to doubt everything she had planned. She wanted to bring romance back into her life, with Will there never had been much place for it, but she needed it. The Southern man might have had his charm, but he was no romantic. JJ had the potential to change the status of romance in her life with Emily, so she was taking the opportunity.

As soon as she was satisfied with everything, she gathered her clothing and disappeared into the bathroom. She appeared an hour later showered and dressed in a black, knee length dress. She took her necklace from the dresser and put it on, along with her ring and watch. The media liaison used the mirror above the dresser to touch up her make-up, and she returned to the bathroom to blow dry her hair.

Soon, she was ready to go; she pulled the front door closed behind her and locked it. A smile flashed over her face, thinking about the next time Emily and her would enter the house. She pushed the thoughts to the back of her mind as she got into the car, knowing that she would never get through the evening if she kept thinking about the end of it.

So she started her car and was soon on her way to Emily's apartment, having turned up the sound of her iPod which she sung along to as she drove. Once she reached the apartment building she parked and made her way to the entrance. The hallway was guarded by a door man who sat behind the reception desk. "Ah, the lady who snatched away Miss Prentiss." He said with a broad smile on his face.

"She's home, right?" JJ smiled widely at the man across the reception desk.

The Latino man answered back with a smile of his own; while he straightened out his jacket as he got up; "Yes, she came home about two hours ago. She was really busy, normally we always chat but today she said that she had to run. Seeing you here all dressed up I get why." He said while his eyes travelled up and down JJ's body with an appreciative glance, though not in an too overtly manner. The man was a flirt but he would never cross the line, he acted the same around Emily. In fact the man was happily married and he had a couple of kids.

The blonde smiled politely; "Well, then I better get up there." She quickly made her way to the elevator and waited patiently for it to arrive. Once the doors opened she slipped inside and pushed the button to Emily's floor. Seconds later the doors opened again, and she walked down the hallway quickly, she didn't want to waste any more time. She wanted to kiss Emily and take her to dinner, and afterwards ... _Don't think about afterwards!_ She mentally slapped herself for thinking of what would happen later that evening.

Knocking on Emily's door, JJ waited patiently for the brunette to open it for her. She could have used the key the profiler had given her, but she had yet to use it since they never stayed here, mainly because of Henry. JJ wasn't going to use it now, either. However, as she waited she was getting pretty impatient and for a split second she considered using the key anyway, that was until she heard the distinct sound of high heels on a hard wood floor. She knew that her lover was approaching on the other side of the door.

Momentarily, the door swung open and JJ found herself temporarily mesmerized by the brunette across from her, and Emily was standing with what she could only assume was a similar look on her face. JJ grinned before she pulled Emily in for a searing kiss, which the brunette happily returned. "You look absolutely beautiful!" The blonde said between kisses with the grin still on her face.

"So do you, babe!" The brunette answered with a matching smile. "Let me just grab my coat and I'm ready to go." Emily stated happily as she stepped backwards, both women immediately missing the contact they previously had and both women knowing they needed some space between them or they would never leave the apartment, to grab the said coat from the coat rack.

JJ smiled while she watched Emily as she gracefully moved through the apartment, shutting down the lights and grabbing her purse from the kitchen counter. "Ready." She said with a smile while she pulled the door shut behind her and locked it. JJ leaned into Emily, she grabbed a hold of the brunette's arm while the two of them walked down the hallway to the elevator.

Normally, JJ was glad with the fast elevator ride to or from Emily's floor, but today she hated it. The door had barely closed when she leaned up against the brunette, kissing her once more, taking advantage of the time they had in the enclosed area. But she had barely had chance at all before the elevator dinged again. and she had to pull away from the brunette before the doors slid open.

The two women greeted Mike the doorman on their way outside, and upon approaching JJ's car, Emily pulled her close again for another kiss before she opened the door and got inside. JJ lightly touched her lips and smiled before she made her way around the car and got inside the vehicle.

JJ and Emily were seated at a table in the center of the new restaurant, neither one of them had been there before, it was after all, the newest and hottest place in town. Emily knew that she could pull strings with her connections and her mother who worked as an Ambassador, but even she doubted that she would have been able to get a table at this place, she was impressed; "How did you get this table?"

JJ smiled smugly; "Impressed?"

"Well, yeah …" The brunette smiled back; "Yes, I am impressed! I mean this place is filled up each night. I don't think I would have been able to get a table here now … not even if I throw around my mothers' name!" The profiler watched her girlfriend in awe.

"Sweetie, it's all about connections. And as you might know I am a media liaison, I have my fair share of connections! Although I have to admit that this is a special one. You see the hostess over there?" The blonde pointed at a woman who was obviously in charge of the place across the restaruant; "She's one of the very few, but best friends I have outside of work."

"Caroline?" Emily asked with a frown, remembering the blonde mention her before.

"Yes, that's Caroline. It's been a while since I've seen her, she's been busy with this." JJ waved at her friend who noticed her and nodded at her; "Her husband is the cook, James." At that moment Caroline approached their table.

"Well I'll be damned, Jennifer Jareau!" The dark haired woman hugged the media liaison who had gotten up from her seat. "I was so happy when I saw your email. This is great." She released her hold on JJ and stepped back to introduce herself to the profiler.

JJ quickly stepped in; "Em, this is Caroline Beauford, Caroline this is my girlfriend Emily Prentiss." Emily smiled widely when JJ used the word girlfriend to introduce her, it was the first time she had and it felt good, right. Caroline shook her hand and told her it was a pleasure to meet her, which the brunette returned.

"It's really nice to meet you but … well, duty calls. We need to catch up soon, I'm so sorry but this place doesn't run on it's own, one of my waiters has been trying to get my attention. I'll make sure that someone comes over to take your orders, but I can really recommend the 'Chef's choice'." The tall dark haired woman smiled; "We need to catch up soon Jennifer, and Emily."

"Thank you, Caroline. We'll see you soon."

"That's a promise." The woman quickly left their table pointing a couple of her waiters to certain tables while she took back control of the restaurant which was incredibly busy.

One of the waiters was sent to their table with a bottle of wine, he filled their glasses with compliments of the house and asked them if they wanted to order. "Caroline recommended the 'Chef's choice', so I'll take that." The blonde answered the question with a smile.

"And I'll take the same." The brunette replied before she turned her attention back to her girlfriend; "It was really nice meeting Caroline."

"Yes, it was. I told her about you and she said that she would make sure that we had a table. She forgot to mention that we would get the best table in the place." The blonde smirked as she sipped her wine and looked around. The place looked absolutely marvelous.

As JJ turned back toward Emily, a devious smile appeared on her face when she thought about the rest of the night, unable to stop herself. She was still both nervous and excited about everything that was still ahead of them.

Emily's brow shot up when she saw the look on JJ's face, a question forming in her eyes immediately, inquisitively. The blonde simply giggled, actually giggled, but didn't answer the question that was so obviously clear in the brunette's eyes. Emily stared at her almost blankly, then a matching smile started to appear on her face as realisation really set in.

"Did Henry like it when his Aunty Pen picked him up today?" Avoidance was the best thing she could do since they still had to get through a meal and a ride home. Plus, she needed to distract herself from the fluster that rolled through her as the anticipation began to build.

JJ smiled, she knew exactly what Emily was doing, she was picking a relatively safe subject because she had figured out what she had been smiling about. "Henry was happy, but he did ask about you." The blonde replied to her lover.

"Really?" Emily smiled happily; "I missed him too, it was strange being at the apartment. It's too silent when I'm not around you and Henry. It's strange how easily you adjust to something you never had before."

JJ reached her hand over the table and placed it on top of Emily's; "The feeling is mutual, we both missed you."

At that moment, the waiter returned to their table with their meals and the conversation halted for a moment as they tasted the delicious food. Soon, their conversation of 'safe topics' started up again. The evening was filled with small talk and laughter and then came the time to go home. The nervousness JJ had previously felt returned with a vengeance.

While they walked back to the car she fumbled with the keys and dropped them on the floor, she bent down to pick them up and giggled nervously. Emily smiled and grabbed JJ's hand to spin her around, moving the blonde back toward the care and moved in closely. Gently, she kissed JJ on the lips, running her hands up and down her sides in a soothing manner; "Jayje, we go as far as you want to go. We're not forcing anything." The brunette kissed the blonde with more passion this time; "There's no need to be nervous."

"Me? Nervous? Where did you get that idea?" JJ squeaked out.

"Yeah, me and my silly ideas." Emily drawled sardonically with a dry smile and a roll of her eyes. She let go of JJ and stepped back; "Let's just go to your place and see what happens."

JJ looked up at the brunette with her big blue eyes and smiled, a little bit of the nervousness went away when she saw the look in the brunette's eyes. She nodded and leaned in for a quick kiss before she pulled the car door open and quickly sat behind the wheel.

_Let me know what you think!_


	28. Chapter 28

AN: Extra long chapter for several reasons, one is that I am now officially writing a year on this story because I started it last year around Valentines Day and I have reached 50 000 words which was kind of a milestone! And this is a very important chapter I guess. Yes it includes the rest of the evening after their date and therefor I had to raise the rating of this story, please take notice and if it is not your cup of tea please skip ahead. Otherwise enjoy reading and let me know what you think!

**Chapter 28**

It was hard for JJ to concentrate on the road. Okay, hard might have been a huge understatement, it seemed to be almost impossible to drive. Her driving got so bad that Emily offered to drive, but the blonde was stubborn and promised that she would get the two of them safely to her house.

Neither of them had felt the need to talk, and the brunette had turned toward the window, her eyes focused on the streets that passed them by. The media liaison would glance at Emily every now and again, and had wondering if, like her, the profiler was nervous, or if she just didn't want to be a distraction during the drive. JJ pushed the thought to the back of her mind and focused on the road ahead while she waited for the light to change.

As she parked in front of the garage, JJ released a breath that she had unconsciously been holding, secretly relieved that she had actually managed to park the car. Steadying herself, the blonde looked across at the older woman, and in this case, the more experienced woman.

Emily looked back at her girlfriend with a confident smile. She leant over the center console to kiss JJ, and soon her hands were entangled in the long blonde tresses.

Some of the nervousness flowed from JJ's body as the seconds ticked by, but no matter how long the kiss lasted, when it ended despite feeling confident enough to exit the car, JJ could still feel those pangs of anxiety mixed with anticipation.

After slipping out of the car Emily followed her closely, but as soon as they reached the door a new wave of apprehension took JJ by surprise, causing her to fumble with the keys before she dropped them to the ground with a loud thud.

However, before JJ had a chance to recover and pick up the keys, the brunette had bent down and grabbed them. She stood back up again and closed whatever room there was between them. The taller woman wrapped her arms around the blonde from behind and pulled her close, her chin rested on the blonde's shoulder before she spoke.

"Jayje, I love you. No matter what happens or doesn't happen tonight will change that. I've seen you do incredible things, press conferences which any other person would have found intimidating to say the least, but I have never seen you this nervous. Sweetie, it's just plain ol' me." The brunette said with a shrug before she placed a kiss on JJ's cheek. She then continued to unlock the door with a steady hand before she pushed it open.

As JJ watched the door open in front of her as she felt the comfortable warmth of Emily's body behind her, the sweet words echoed in her ears, and the usual confidence of the blonde returned to her features. She straightened her back instantly and turned around to face the older woman.

"I love you too, but don't ever call yourself plain!" The blonde raised herself on her toes and looked up at Emily with a smile before she passionately kissed her. Something inside of the blonde clicked at that exact moment, all the nervousness that had previously occupied her flowed from her body.

Emily was surprised by the sudden change in demeanor, especially when both of JJ's hands seized a hold of her collar and pulled her inside the house. Her foot hit the end of the door and slammed it shut in one swift move.

JJ kissed Emily a couple of times, tiny butterfly kisses filled with love, on her lips and down her throat before she stepped backwards. A soft moan escaped from the brunette's mouth at the sudden loss of contact.

"Take off your coat and follow me upstairs but take your time, I need a couple of minutes." JJ smiled affectionately, but a determination was obvious in her tone of voice as well. She turned around and quickly ascended the stairs, at the top she turned around and smiled at the brunette over her shoulder seductively.

Emily stood at the base of the stairs looking up, coat still on her shoulders as she watched the blonde at the top of the stairs disappear around the corner. She smiled and turned toward the coat rack, doing as instructed and hanging up her jacket before locking the door and placing the keys in the drawer where JJ always kept them. Still smiling, the profiler proceeded toward the kitchen to retrieve a bottle of wine and a couple of glasses. The brunette then ascended the stairs quickly after her girlfriend with a cocky smile on her face, softly calling out her name.

The blonde opened the door to her bedroom and held her hand out towards the profiler. Emily reached out and waited for the younger woman to grab a hold of her hand. As soon as their hands made contact she was pulled closer to the blonde and their lips crashed together in a heated kiss.

A warm yellow glow was cascading shadows across the room, which was the first thing Emily noticed when she opened her eyes. The younger woman in front of her was still holding her close. Soft sounds of music filled the room, and the delicious smell of flowers filled her nostrils along with the smell that was distinctly JJ's perfume; a smell which she loved.

"Sweetie, this is perfect. You are perfect!" Emily confessed with a smile, she meant it with all of her heart. She'd almost added 'just the way you are' but that would have sounded completely cheesy, especially with that Bruno Mars song playing on the radio every hour or so.

JJ reached her hand out and took the glasses of wine from the brunette's hands and placed them on the cabinet next to some of the candles she has placed around the room.

"I'm not perfect, a far cry from perfect even." The blonde laughed it off while she pulled the brunette closer. Their lips crashed together in a searing kiss, JJ's hands roamed over Emily's body. Her fingers started to fidget with the buttons on Emily's clothes. While they moved through the room, towards the bed at the center of the opposite wall, pieces of clothing were unbuttoned and unzipped. Shoes were scattered on the floor when they dropped to the bed in a heap of tangled limbs.

Emily gazed at the blonde as if she wanted to make sure that she had her consent, but JJ didn't waste any time. Her fingers finally managed to open all the buttons on the brunette's top and pushed the loose fabric off her shoulders. Her appreciative blue orbs eyed the newly exposed skin before she placed a couple of butterfly kisses along the brunette's collarbone and neck. A moan erupted from somewhere deep inside of Emily when the blonde's mouth sucked on her pulse point, no doubt leaving a mark on the exact spot where JJ's lips had latched onto her.

The profiler wasted no more time, they had both wasted more than enough time, and she still blamed herself for not taking action three years before, when she just started to work at the BAU. So now she felt like any second she wasted was a second too many.

Emily's hands reached for the hem of JJ's knee length dress and she exposed the blonde's thigh inch by inch. Her fingers ghosted over the newly exposed skin, receiving an immediate reaction from the younger woman when her hips bucked slightly. No words were spoken between them but they both knew what the other wanted.

The brunette pushed herself up from the mattress and held her hand out to JJ; the blonde quickly placed her hand in the brunette's and let herself be pulled to her feet. As soon as they were standing Emily started to work on getting JJ out of her dress while the blonde did the same to her.

Within seconds they were standing in front of each other, only dressed in their underwear, admiring eyes gliding over their bodies. Of course they had seen each other in their underwear before since they were practically living together, sleeping in the same bed. But since they had decided to take things slow they had both made sure that they kept a certain level of decency around each other so that they wouldn't provoke each other into things they weren't ready for. But now all sorts of reservations had left their mind and they both let their eyes and hands wander.

"You're beautiful." JJ whispered the words under her breath, barely audible.

The hushed words caused Emily to shiver, not because she was cold, but because they stirred something deep inside her, she had never seen herself as particularly beautiful. She was more like an average looking woman in her own eyes, but the heartfelt and honest way in which JJ spoke made her feel all warm and tingly inside.

She stepped closer towards JJ; "You're the beautiful one, sweetie." She whispered her mouth right next to JJ's ear, the media liaison laughed and pulled Emily into a passionate kiss.

Feeling Emily's much smaller and softer hands, compared to a man's hands, all over her body had an exhilarating effect on the blonde's skin, the brunette's fingers left a trail of goose bumps. One thing was for sure, none of JJ's dreams had done any justice to the real effect Emily's hands and mouth had on her body and mind.

Emily eased the two of them down on the bed and showered JJ's skin with kisses while her hands roamed over the blonde's skin. The media liaison's black lace bra was the next clothing item to drop to the floor somewhere next to the bed.

The younger woman wrapped her hands around the profiler slowly, unclasping her bra and releasing her full breasts to her appreciative eyes as if she were unwrapping a gift. Emily smiled at the expression in JJ's dark blue eyes; "I love you." The words were spoken in complete awe at the woman beneath her.

JJ glanced up at Emily, whose eyes were almost black with passion; "I love you too." She replied, the same type of love visible in her eyes. The blonde reached her hands up and entangled them in Emily's dark tresses, as the older woman kissed a path from JJ's mouth, down along her jaw line and neck and to her breast. She slipped her tongue out and twirled it around the blonde's nipple, causing her to release a moan and arch her back closer into Emily's touch.

JJ's involuntary movements underneath Emily's hands, and the soft moans escaping from deep within her, spurred the dark haired woman on even more. She let her fingertips wander over the sensitive skin of JJ's abdomen before she hooked them in the lace panties the blonde was still wearing.

The brunette placed several butterfly kisses along the line of the panties before she moved down the blonde's legs, taking the panties with her. JJ untangled her fingers from the dark tresses and grabbed the sheets underneath her in a death grip. Once Emily was standing at the edge of the bed, she dropped them on the floor.

The blonde's eyes snapped open, and she watched the brunette standing at the end of the bed. Emily bent down and wanted to place her knee on the bed between JJ's legs, but before she could the blonde opened her mouth and stopped the brunette dead in her tracks.

"Don't..." Emily's head shot up to watch the other woman in utter confusion, seeing dark blue eyes watching her intently before she continued talking. "I want you to take off your own panties, you got me completely naked, it's only fair that you do the same before you get back into my bed and make love to me." The blonde's face broke into a devious smile.

The brunette smiled back; "We'll see who laughs the longest, sweetheart!" She exclaimed while she placed her knee in between JJ's legs and moved up the bed to kiss the blonde. One of her hands trailed up JJ's long, well toned legs until they reached her center. JJ hissed between kisses when Emily's fingers gently touched her bundle of nerves; her body's reaction was instantaneous.

As Emily's fingers curled inside of her, a flaring heat settled in her belly, a moan escapes her lips and she clenched her fists in the sheets, trying to keep herself from cuming too soon. She wanted this moment to last for as long as she could possibly take it, but once Emily moved down her body, placing kisses on her exposed skin along the way, JJ knew that she was a goner.

She wouldn't last long, she could feel the orgasm building inside of her, and then suddenly Emily sat up and stared down at her, giving her a chance to catch her breath, waiting patiently for the nearing climax to subdue a little.

Although Emily wondered whether JJ would see it right away or not, she didn't stop because she was teasing her. She stopped because she didn't want it all to be over so quickly either. The blonde's eyes snapped open to stare at the brunette, her ragged breaths preventing her from forming the words on her lips, but the question obvious in those beautiful eyes anyway.

Emily leant down and kissed the blonde slowly; "Jayje, I just want it to last a little longer." She mumbled between kisses. Satisfied with JJ's tiny nod as an acknowledgement, Emily moved down the blonde's body again, trailing kisses along her skin and leaving goose bumps in her wake.

When she reached JJ's core, the profiler slipped her tongue out teasingly, caressing the bundle of nerves while two of her fingers once again slipped into the blonde's folds.

JJ's hands, which had previously taken to caressing her, now fell limply to the mattress, only to clench the sheets again when the brunette started to move her fingers. The older woman moved in and out of the blonde as her tongue and mouth began to work on JJ's bundle of nerves.

Soon, JJ's involuntary movements and muscle twitches took over her whole body, and she came undone underneath Emily's hands and mouth. The brunette made a show of cleaning her fingers with her tongue before she kissed JJ's lips. The blonde smiled, tasting herself on the profiler's lips.

Emily laid down next to the still rapidly breathing blonde, and absentmindedly stroked her hand over the her stomach while she watched the woman next to her come down from her orgasm.

After a couple of minutes the blonde turned on her side and watched Emily with a smile on her face. No words were spoken between them, but they didn't have to talk to know what the other person wanted to say, it was visible in their eyes.

This time, JJ took the lead when she gently eased Emily onto her back and straddled the older woman. She took her sweet time caressing, kissing and worshipping the brunette's body. This time it was Emily who came undone under JJ's hands.

JJ lowered her body onto the brunette's while she tried to even out her breathing, and Emily's arms wrapped around her body, holding her close before she placed a gentle kiss on her temple. The blonde listened while the profiler tried to steady her breathing; she contently rested her head on the brunette's shoulder. Both of them were exhausted but in a good way. Emily reached down to pull the blankets to cover them before they fell asleep.

JJ's eyes fluttered open, and for once they easily adjusted to the light filtering through the curtains. She was instantly awake, not like usual when she needed a little while to wake up. Today everything was different. The feeling of last night returned instantly, she felt completely content where she was, and especially who she was with.

She turned her head towards the brunette who was still sound asleep next top her. The relaxed look on Emily's face was one they hardly ever got a chance to see, and JJ was glad that she was here to witness it, and in a way be the cause of it. She stretched her hand out just above the profiler's face.

She wanted to push a strand of hair behind Emily's ear so that she could have a better look at her; however, her hand hovered over Emily's face for a second longer before she pulled her hand back. Instead JJ placed it on the mattress next to her own body, in between the two of them in what little room there was.

JJ lost track of time as she watched the older woman, and it wasn't until she heard the familiar buzz from her phone that she reacted and snapped back into reality. Quickly, she got up from the bed and grabbed the phone from her bedside table.

The young woman smiled when she saw the name flashing up on the screen, and as she picked up quickly, JJ whispered that she needed a second. She turned towards the older woman and smiled when she noticed that she was still asleep.

JJ quickly retrieved her bathrobe from her closet and left the room before she brought the phone back to her ear. "Hi." The blonde media liaison descended down the stairs while she spoke softly. She dropped down on the couch and snuggled into the corner.

"Don't hi me, and don't play coy with me either. Details girl, details!" The red headed technical analyst laughed.

"I am not giving you any!" JJ exclaimed with a chuckle.

"Right, so either nothing happened or I'm going to have to pester our raven haired friend." A chuckle erupted from the other side of the line. "But somehow, I don't believe that nothing happened so I'm guessing that I'll have to call Emily if I want to know last nights details."

"No! Don't!"

"Why? Are you afraid that she'll dish out all of your embarrassing secrets?" Garcia sneered on the other side of the line.

"No, she's still asleep in my bed upstairs, that's why I couldn't talk to you immediately when I picked up the phone, I didn't want to wake her up." The blonde admitted reluctantly.

"Aha, so you wore her out! Good for you!" Garcia exclaimed on the other side, making JJ quickly pull the phone away from her ear. Nonetheless, she was still able to hear the other woman's loud, high pitched squeal. At that moment, the phone was pulled from her hand, and as the blonde snapped her head up at her partner her face colored a dark shade of crimson.

"Pen, we wore each other out and it was amazing, I hope that answer satisfies you enough to give us a couple of hours peace before we come over to pick Henry up?" Emily pulled the phone away from her ear without listening to the answer from the technical analyst, pushing the button to disconnect before she handed it back to the younger woman. The blonde still sat looking up at her, her cheeks still a deep shade of red.

Emily smiled at the blonde and motioned for her to move forward before she sat down behind JJ. She pulled the blonde closer to her and wrapped her arms around her; "You weren't there when I woke up."

"PG called and you looked so content and relaxed, I left because I didn't want to wake you up."

"Well, I woke up anyway because I missed you. I'm not used to sleeping alone anymore you know." Emily replied between kisses. "Let's get something to eat?" The brunette smiled while she nudged the smaller woman in front of her to get up from the couch.

"I'm not hungry, Em." The media liaison claimed, but her own body soon betrayed her when a loud rumble erupted from her stomach.

"Right, Jayje, tell that to your stomach." The smirk on Emily's face couldn't have been broader. Both women started laughing but finally they got up and retreated to the kitchen to prepare something to eat.


	29. Chapter 29

_**AN: **_Thank you to everyone who read and reviews my stories, let me know what you think or if you have any suggestions!

**Chapter 29**

The BAU team entered the bullpen at Quantico, their go-bags hung heavy on their shoulders while they made the way towards their desks and chairs. Reid and Morgan dropped down in their chairs and both inhaled deeply; tiredness was etched on their faces.

Similar looks were visible on the faces of the other team members. Emily followed the example of the men and dropped down in her own chair. Hotch and Rossi climbed the steps towards their offices, while JJ didn't even bother to go that far. She dropped her bag on the floor and slumped down on the edge of Emily's desk. The brunette smiled at the blonde who returned it.

"Tired?" Emily asked softly, the blonde didn't reply but nodded instead, her hand absentmindedly rubbing against her head. "Me too." The brunette admitted, it was only seven in the evening but the past few weeks had been filled with one case after another and the team was exhausted. The only reason they were at the office right now was because they were too tired to drive home.

Morgan got up and walked towards the kitchen area to pour some strong coffee into a mug. "Does anyone else want coffee?" He asked over his shoulder. A couple of relieved sighs erupted from his team members mouths, and he laughed in that all too familiar deep throaty laugh; "I take that as a yes for everyone?"

"Coffee, that sounds good." Rossi hummed while he closed the door to his office and made his way to other team members. The older man looked tired as well; he sat down on a chair from one of the other teams. He leaned back in a relaxed way, his hands placed behind his head as he watched his team members.

Reid got up from his chair and followed Morgan into the kitchen to help him. Hotch emerged from his office just in time to take a steaming mug of coffee from Morgan. Soon they were all sitting around the desks nursing a steaming mug of coffee in a comfortable silence.

At that moment a very perky Garcia swung the glass doors open carrying Henry into the BAU. They all snapped their heads up in her direction, no one having expected her to be there. They just figured that she went home when they closed the case.

"Garcia!" JJ's face lit up at the sight of her best friend and her son. The small child was sleeping on Garcia's shoulder, so JJ approached them cautiously. Garcia handed Henry over to his mother and smiled at her; "I am so glad that you guys are home again, I missed you all so much." The red head said with a chuckle.

"Will called me; he asked me if I could pick Henry up from day care. He had an appointment he couldn't reschedule. When I heard that you were coming home tonight I decided to come back and meet you here so you can all go home and enjoy the weekend."

"Thanks so much." JJ hugged Garcia before she reached her hand up and cradled her sons head against her shoulder, her fingers entangled in his blonde silky hair.

Hotch watched the interaction between mother and son with a half smile, no doubt he was thinking about his own son and probably his late wife. Just like JJ, he hadn't seen his son either; the young boy was staying with his aunt like he did whenever they had to travel out of town. He wasn't the only one who was watching the young mother and her son, the rest of the team too had their eyes focused on them. Emily stood from her chair and offered it to JJ.

"Thanks." The blonde smiled and sat down; readjusting the small boy on her lap into a more comfortable position, Henry was still sleeping while JJ soothingly rubbed his back. Both Emily and Garcia retrieved a chair from some of the other desks and sat down as well. Emily was sitting next to JJ; unconsciously she leaned forward and brushed through the boy's blonde locked affectionately.

Hotch cleared his throat, gaining the attention of his colleagues, he placed his now empty mug on the table in front of him; "When I was in my office I received a phone call from Strauss."

For a second the faces of his exhausted team members fell, they were no longer able to uphold their professional faces; they all knew that a phone call from Strauss never really meant anything good; "She informed me that we've been taken out of rotation for the next week. She doesn't expect us back to work until Monday morning."

"What!" and "Really!" were common expressions coming from several of the team, that was until Garcia hushed them as she pointed to her sleeping Godson.

"I wasn't aware that we were up for a week out of rotation?" Rossi questioned the decision made by Strauss, he too knew that usually when the woman gave them something she wanted something else in return; he had seen it happen too many times before to just believe that Strauss would do anything without asking for something in return.

"That's because we weren't." Strauss had actually sounded human when he spoke to her on the phone; "She told me that she gave us the week off because of the recent solve rate on our cases, and since we worked a couple of high profile cases back to back. I don't think that it was really her choice, I think that the decision was made by someone higher up in the chain of command." Hotch shrugged, a half smile on his face; "I think that she was just informed to give us the week off." He was probably already thinking of all the things he could do with his son during his week off without interruptions.

"A week off." JJ said softly, the content of her words hadn't quite sunken in yet.

"My lovelies, what are you all going to do with all that spare time?" Garcia asked with a smug smile on her face.

"Spend it with Jack, I think I might take him camping. He'll love it!" Hotch said a fully fledged grin on his face.

"That is a great idea, bossman. I am sure that Jack will love it."

"Chicago, I'm going home." Derek leaned back in his chair placing his hands behind his head; "I'm going to see my mother and sisters, it's been way too long again."

Reid nodded his head in agreement; "I'm going to see my mother, check on the new treatment plan they put her on. I don't really give it much of a chance, but she'll only get worse if we don't try everything there is to try. I've written to some doctors who set up a new treatment plan and made sure that she got into the first clinical trials." Reid contemplated for a while; "Other than that I think I might read some books."

"Of course sweetie, what else would you do besides read a couple of books." Garcia said with her voice layered with sarcasm; "Sweet cheeks, in a week's time you could read an entire library."

"No, actually even for someone with my reading speed it would be highly unlikely that I could read an entire library in a week. For instance the DC Public Library has an average of..."

"_Reid_!" The team exclaimed in unison before the young genius could explain how untrue Garcia's claim was according to some mathematic equation that no one wanted to hear about; "It was a joke!"

Garcia immediately turned towards JJ to move onto the next person and to hear what her plans were. "Jayje, what will you be doing, or should I ask who?" She asked with a cheeky grin. Every now and again, since JJ and Will broke up, Garcia had been teasing her about dating someone else. Most of the time the blonde just ignored it and moved on. This time however, she noticed that the brunette snapped her head up at the technical analysts question, though she didn't say anything.

The blonde ignored the comment as well and moved on to answer the first part of the question; "I think that Henry is due for a visit with his Grandparents in East Alleghany. Though I might have to discuss that with Will first because he was supposed to have Henry this weekend. If I'm going to see my parents I want to leave as soon as possible." The blonde shrugged trying not to get her hopes up, she hadn't seen her parents in a while and she wanted to go home. "Maybe we can switch weekends or something."

Emily's face fell for a second before her SSA Prentiss face appeared, the one that was unreadable. She bowed her head and looked down at her hands; she swallowed hard before she looked back up again, and the smile she had been wearing earlier was planted firmly on her face again. No one seemed to notice what had happened except for Garcia, who quickly directed the same question she had been asking everyone at Rossi to give Emily a little more time to regain her composure.

"Rossi?"

"My publisher would probably like me to work on my next book, but I think that I'm going to my cabin. That sounds like a much better plan; I'll hunt some ducks, drink some age old whiskey and maybe work on my book if I feel like it." He added with a confident smile.

"I really like that rebel side you're showing there, Special Agent Rossi!" Garcia exclaimed with another cheeky grin, she flirted with the older man before she turned her attention to the one agent she hadn't asked the question. "So honey, one week off, what's your game plan?"

Garcia grinned deviously; this time around it was JJ who flashed the green eyed monster before she turned her attention to her son, who was still cradled in her lap. Luckily for JJ, Henry chose that moment to wake from his slumber, taking up all of her attention.

"Haven't really thought about it, maybe I'll take a trip or go to a spa or something." The brunette gave them a non-conclusive answer hoping that it would satisfy her team mates and friends. "What about you, PG?"

"Oh my pretties, while you are all away to refill those batteries, I'll be here holding down the fort so that everything will be okay when you get back from your well deserved vacations. Besides that, there are other teams who need me." Garcia smiled; "I will be here in my lair, imagine what the FBI would be like if I take a week off. If I weren't here to answer all of their questions..." Her final words trailed off with a smile.

Henry, who had so far been sitting patiently in JJ's lap, escaped from his mother's embrace and quickly made his way towards Emily; "Hi Em'ly!" He cried out happily, both women held their breath hoping that Henry wouldn't say anything that they would have to explain, and which would cause awkward situations amongst them. Neither of them had ever considered Henry outing them to their friends.

"Hi buddy!" Emily exclaimed just as happily as she bent over and picked him up. The small child settled on her lap in the same way he sat on JJ's lap just moments before. His face buried in the crook of her neck resting against her shoulder. He put his thumb in his mouth and absentmindedly played with one of the buttons on Emily's shirt. "I missed you, Em'ly!" He said loudly, loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Emily has been helping out a lot since Will and I broke up." JJ smiled affectionately; "I guess they got attached to each other."

"How about a 'family dinner' before you all go home? We all need to eat, so why not do it together, give you all some time to recover a little more before the drive home." Garcia smiled while she looked around the small circle of friends.

"Sounds good to me, Jessica's taking Jack to a movie so I won't see him till tomorrow anyway." Hotch agreed.

"Well as long as we go to a place that's not too fancy I am all for it, since I have Henry."

"Honey, he'll be fine." Garcia brushed away any concern JJ had with a smile. She quickly stood, ushering the others to follow her so the team grabbed their go bags. Emily stood cautiously; she didn't want to disturb the sleeping child in her arms. JJ picked up her bag and rushed to Emily's side; "Do you want me to take him?"

"Not necessarily, only if you want to carry him?" Emily said softly.

"Go ahead." JJ answered with a smile, she wanted to turn around and grab Emily's go bag instead. But when she turned around, Morgan was already standing behind her holding the bag.

"My chocolate hunk, always the perfect gentleman." Garcia exclaimed as she hung onto his strong muscled arm.

Soon the whole team piled into the elevator, patiently waiting while the cart brought them downstairs to the employees parking deck. They discussed shortly where to go, and within seconds Garcia was making a call to see if they had room for a table for eight.

JJ and Emily walked towards JJ's car, where Emily placed Henry in his car seat. "Emily, if you want I can drop you off at home after dinner, I have Henry with me so I can't drink anyway." JJ asked with a wink at Emily.

"Sure, thank you." Emily replied with a genuine smile.

"Since boy genius and my chocolate hunk live in the same area as me, Esther can bring them home." Garcia said with a grin, while she pointed at her old but trusted car.

"Esther?" Rossi asked, wondering if he had missed something.

"Her car." Morgan explained to the older man with a grin on his face while he shrugged; "She named her car _Esther_."

"Hmm." Rossi hummed while he turned towards Hotch; "I guess that leaves you and me then?"

Soon, the whole team, including Henry, was seated in the restaurant of their choice trying to figure out what they should order from the varied menu. Light conversations were carried between them while they waited for the food to arrive.


	30. Chapter 30

**AN: There is no real excuse for the long wait except for real life getting in the way of any writing. Work has been crazy busy and being home late and exhausted doesn't really help the writing process. Sorry for the long wait, I hope that you will still like what I came up with! Let me know! **

**Chapter 30**

Though JJ had said that she would drop Emily off at her apartment that wasn't what she had planned at all. She knew that Emily would go home with her, just like every other day lately. In fact, they'd spend hardly any time apart and the blonde treasured each and every moment they did.

While driving them home, Henry safely asleep in his car seat and Emily silently sitting next to her, the blonde started to get worried. Emily was silently staring outside the window; she had hardly spoken all evening. JJ watched her, trying to gage the situation, something didn't feel right but she couldn't put her finger on what the cause could be.

Maybe the older woman was just tired, or maybe the case had hit her harder than expected, though at first sight JJ could see no connection to Emily as to why it might have been hard on her. It wasn't like it had involved kids, which always hit them harder than any other cases.

"Em?" The blonde spoke softly as not to disturb her sleeping son in the back seat. "You okay?"

"Hmm ... Yeah, fine?" The brunette answered before she re-focussed her eyes on the street outside.

JJ raised her brow at the non-conclusive answer she received from her partner. It worried her even more if she was quite honest, but she pushed the thoughts to the back of her mind. Now was not the time to figure out what was bothering Emily. First she had to get them home and get Henry to bed.

JJ flipped the light switch and closed the door to her son's room behind her and quickly made her way towards her own room and the en-suite bathroom. A quick shower gave her some more time to think and allowed her to wind down a little, but Emily's behaviour was still worrying her a little. The blonde dried her hair and brushed her teeth before she returned to her bedroom. The brunette was already in bed, leaning against the head board with a book placed against her knees.

The blonde sat down on the mattress, which dipped underneath her weight and Emily looked up and smiled sadly before she re-focussed her attention to the book. To be honest, the media liaison doubted that her partner was actually reading. Her eyes were staring straight at the page without changing focus. She reached out and grabbed the book between her fingers; closed it and placed it on the night stand. She turned towards Emily and kissed her gently. "Can we talk?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Will you tell me what's been bothering you?" She wasn't going to beat around the bush, she went straight for it.

"Why are you asking? I'm fine. I told you already."

JJ tried to control the urge of rolling her eyes, sometimes she really wondered who the profiler of the two was. She sighed; "Emily, you have hardly spoken since we left Quantico and you seem distracted."

Now it was Emily's turn to wonder who the profiler was, she rolled her eyes before commenting; "Jayje, it's nothing."

"Well if it's nothing then why are you acting this way? It's obviously something that's bothering you." The blonde reasoned; "It can't have been the case we worked because as horrible as it was for us it was just routine. Besides that, you seemed fine on the flight home. So what gives?" The determined look on JJ's face made it clear that she was not joking around and that she demanded an answer, the real answer.

"It's stupid..." The brunette mumbled. "Probably even childish. I would prefer it if we could just stop talking about it."

"C'mon Em, if it got you this upset it can't really be that stupid. Besides, you've seen me at my most vulnerable, maybe now it's your turn to show me all of your stupid childish worries?" She smiled and leaned forward, once again kissing the brunette.

Emily had an increasingly hard time to compartmentalize when she was around the blonde. It was as if the young woman could see straight through her no matter how hard she tried to hide her true feelings and deepest fears. She no longer possessed the ability to keep them hidden from JJ, and that resulted in a rant.

Emily blushed a dark shade of red, she closed her eyes and lowered her head; "It's stupid ... but I don't know how I'll get through a whole week alone ... I mean since we got together, we've spend so much time together that I think I'll go stir crazy if I'm at my apart..." JJ pressed her lips against Emily, finally stopping the words that were spilling from the brunette's mouth.

"Stop talking." JJ demanded; "and listen to me. Who said anything about being alone? I actually hoped that you would join me on my trip to East Alleghany. It's a 200 mile drive and you know I love Henry but I don't think he's able to hold a conversation for a few hours, and a long drive like that could become quite boring easily."

She shrugged lightly with a smile on her face. "I couldn't really tell the others that I was going to ask my girlfriend to join me on a trip to my parents', because she's become such an important part of my life that I want her to meet them. And I know that it might be early in our relationship but it feels right. Besides, who knows when I'll have time to visit my folks again?"

Emily's mouth was agape; she was just staring at JJ. "You ehm... want me to go with you ... meet your parents? Jayje, maybe you should ehm… take Henry to your parents spend some time with him." She tried to decline JJ's offer, nerves grew within her and she was having a hard time processing her thoughts and forming words.

"Did you not hear what I was just saying?" The blonde smiled, she wasn't teasing Emily, she did find it kind of funny that a woman as well spoken and travelled as Emily Prentiss was afraid of meeting her small town, loving and caring parents who didn't care for politics or labels. "I was talking out loud, right?"

The blond feigned confusion while she watched the brunette, thinking of a way to make clear to Emily how serious she was about this; "I really want you to meet my parents, they are sweet and kind. They will love you, I'm sure they will. Please come with me, it's only a four hour drive; if things get awkward we'll be home soon enough. Though I really doubt it'll be necessary."

"But they don't know about me, Jen!" The brunette exclaimed.

"My mom knows I'm dating someone, she knows I'm happy." The younger woman squelched. "Happier than I have been in a very long time."

"But they don't know it's me?"

"Well, no." The blonde bit her lip; "Em, they want me to be happy, they don't care who I'm happy with. You have nothing to worry about they will love you!" JJ moved closer to her partner and leaned in; "Honey, please come with me, you'll see everything will be fine."

"As if meeting parents for the first time isn't bad enough already, you want me to come with you and drop the bomb of our relationship on them while we are standing on their porch? Really Jen, does that make any sense to you?" The profiler reasoned with her girlfriend.

"Yes, I want to do this face to face so that I can show them how happy we are together, and Emily, this really is not something I want to tell over the phone."

The profiler sighed. "Okay."

"Please Emily? I really want you to come with Henry and me to East Alleghany." The blonde was almost begging her girlfriend now.

"I said okay, didn't I?" Emily gave in easily; she knew that she would eventually anyway; who could deny JJ anything when she used those blue orbs on them.

The next day, JJ took care of the arrangements with her parents and Will, he didn't like it one bit that he had to give up his weekend with Henry. But having lived with JJ for almost three years he knew how demanding her job was and how rare it was for the whole team to have a complete week off, so he didn't really give JJ a hard time, thankfully.

Emily had gone home to her apartment, which she didn't really consider as her home anymore, to pick up some things she needed for a week away. When she returned she found JJ packing the last of Henry's toys into a bag, when she sneaked up on her and wrapped her arms around her.

The blonde startled while Henry squealed when Emily came into view. He dropped his toys and rushed to his mother and Emily, when he reached them he wrapped his small arms around one of JJ's and one of Emily's legs in an awkward hug. Emily bent down and picked the squealing kid up and hugged him tightly. "I'm ready. Hey, I was wondering, can we take my car?"

"Why? Because it's a sleek and sexy Jag instead of a boring family car and it's a four hour drive?" JJ replied with a smile.

"Well, yeah, there is that. But it's also a very comfy car with nice leather seats and all the latest technology to make it an easier four hour drive."

"Okay, if you don't mind Henry's car seat on that smooth leather seat for all that time we can take your car. I'm not that attached to mine." A grin crossed JJ's features as she picked up the bag and carried it down.

Within an hour they where ready to go, Emily backed the car out of the driveway while JJ called her mother to let her know that they were on their way to East Alleghany. JJ had installed the DVD player in Emily's car for Henry to watch, and while he was engrossed in his cartoons the adults talked.

They were well on their way when JJ turned towards Emily, she glanced over her shoulder and noticed that Henry was asleep and didn't look like he would wake up any time soon. "Emily, there is something I should tell you." Instinctively her fingers touched her necklace tracing over the delicate gold curves she had memorized years ago.

"That sounds serious." The brunette remarked while she kept her eyes focussed on the road ahead.

"It's not, well it is but it's just a little family history." She bit her lip figuring out where to start; "You know that I have no siblings, right? Or that's the official version, I guess." Emily nodded, snapping her head in JJ's direction at the second part of the sentence.

"So what's the unofficial version?" She asked quickly while she changed lanes.

"I have a sister, _had_ a sister. Amelia, she hated her name, we always called her Amy or AJ." JJ smiled; "She's the one who dubbed me JJ, she was six years older, I always looked up to her. She ... ehm ... when I was eleven she committed suicide. She's the one who gave me this pendant; I always liked it and wanted to have it. When she gave it to me I was overjoyed. She killed herself soon after she gave it to me, I didn't understand it, I begged and prayed that I would give it back if I could just have my sister back. I didn't understand back then that she gave me the pendant as a way of saying goodbye to me, I was only eleven.

My parents were broken, I guess they never really recovered from it, and no matter how many times I go over those memories I can't find a reason or clues as to what caused her depression. She seemed happy, so no one saw it coming. I wanted to warn you because my parents have all of these mementos around the house, pictures and trophy's she won with soccer. And her old room, it's still there... I don't know if anyone ever goes in there, but it's like a time capsule, it's the same way it was all those years ago. It's best you know this before we enter the house."

Emily had been listening intently to the blonde's words, by the time JJ finished she had parked the car but the younger woman hadn't noticed. She actually jumped when Emily moved closer to her and wrapped her arms around her as best as she could. The FBI Agent calmed down considerably, it wasn't that she kept her past a secret; it was just that people never asked her if she had any siblings, they just assumed she didn't.

Somewhere in the midst of it all, Henry woke up from is slumber and squealed at the top of his voice when he saw a giant advertisement for ice cream outside. With his arm outstretched towards the giant ice cream cone he yelled _'Me wants ice cream!'. _

"The kid has a point, how about we get something to eat and ice cream before we drive any further. We passed the halfway mark, but we still have some miles to drive before we reach East Allegheny." JJ nodded while she wiped her damp eyes with her sleeve. Emily occupied herself with Henry to allow JJ to compose herself a little more before she had to face her young son who wouldn't understand why his mother was crying.

It was a good two hours later when Emily rounded the last corner and drove through the gate of the house that Jennifer Jareau grew up in. A small but homely looking farm, the complete opposite of any house Emily ever grew up in.

Soon, she had the car parked besides an older model SUV, she cut the engine and inhaled a large gulp of air. JJ reached her hand out and grasped the brunette's hand in hers; "It'll be okay, you'll see. Trust me."

**_Read & Review, please! _**


	31. Chapter 31

**AN: Thank you for your reviews, I love reading them!**

**Chapter 31**

Hair was blown into Emily's face as she got out of the car, and no sooner had she lifted her hand to push the brown locks aside, she noticed that the front door of the house had opened. An older version of JJ stood on the porch, to who she smiled and raised a hand in an odd wave-like gesture before turning toward JJ.

The blonde had retrieved Henry from his car seat and set him down on the dusty ground. The small boy ran as quickly as he possibly could on his small wobbly legs towards his grandmother, who kneeled down and gathered him in her loving arms.

JJ quickly followed Henry and soon found herself wrapped in her mother's arms; "Jenny, it's been way too long again, look at Henry! He's grown so much!" Her mother's voice raised in complete awe at the little boy's changes since the last time she saw him.

"I know, mom. He's growing up way too fast." The blonde smiled happily, her mother released her hold on her and stepped backwards. She gave her daughter the once over. JJ looked happier than she could remember seeing her daughter in a while, usually she only saw that kind of happiness when the blonde was talking about her son. But lately she had been hearing the happiness over her voice while they were on the phone or on the computer whenever they skype'd.

"Mom, this is Emily Prentiss?" JJ said while she turned towards the brunette who stood leaning against her car watching the scene in front of her unfold in front of her through her dark sunglasses. The elderly woman made her way towards the brunette, and Emily Prentiss who had been raised with all the right etiquette from a young age, immediately pushed herself off the car and lifted her sunglasses up into her dark hair. She held her hand out to shake the older woman's hand; "Mrs. Jareau, it is so good to meet you." She said sincerely.

However the elderly woman was having none of it. She handed Henry back to his mother and pulled Emily into a slightly awkward hug; "Thank you for being such a good friend for my daughter when she needed someone."

"She'd do the same thing for me, Mrs. Jareau." Emily answered with a shrug.

"Now, now ... stop calling me Mrs. Jareau. Call me Mary instead, I insist." The elderly Jareau woman replied with a smile. The older woman and her daughter had a lot of similar traits and the brunette took an instant liking to the older woman and the feeling seemed to be mutual. She just hoped that JJ's parents would still like her when JJ broke their news to them. "Let's go inside for a nice cup of steaming hot coffee and baked goods, just the way you like them." The older woman smiled at her daughter; "You're father should be home soon, darling."

"Just go inside with your mother, I'll retrieve our bags from the car and bring them inside." Emily said before she turned back around to the car and popped the trunk.

"Emily, leave them till later." The blonde knew that Emily was stalling. She understood that it couldn't be easy to meet the parents, especially if you were raised by her parents, judgemental know-it-all's who couldn't stop proclaiming their own ideas as the only possible truth. It wasn't that hard to imagine what the brunette was fearing right now. "Everything is fine, trust me." JJ talked softly while she pushed the button to close the trunk. "Just breathe and follow me."

Normally, the situation would have been amusing, but not today. She swallowed hard, breathed in and followed the blonde into the house. Like any other house she entered, the profiler scanned the rooms she was led through, taking in every detail. A regular person wouldn't notice it because she wasn't too obvious about it, but JJ knew that she did it. After all she had seen her do it a thousand times before and to be honest, she herself would probably do the same.

She guided Emily down to the living room and gestured to the couch, Emily sank down, sitting a little straighter than usual, but that was also something that other people wouldn't notice. Nevertheless, JJ saw it and she put Henry down on the floor to explore the room.

Mary Jareau had disappeared into the kitchen while the two women settled on the couch side by side. "Where's your father?" The brunette asked the blonde.

"Mom said he'll be home soon. He's probably somewhere out back but I'm pretty sure that mom already called him to tell him we've arrived." JJ smiled, briefly turning her head towards Emily before she refocussed on Henry; "He'll be here soon."

"Knowing my daughter I take it that you too love a good cup of coffee, Emily?"

"Yes, Mrs. Jareau." The brunette replied politely; "In our line of work you need coffee to keep going most of the days, so on our odd day off we'll crave it."

"It's Mary, Emily." The older Jareau woman insisted with a smile, while she placed a tray with steaming hot mugs of coffee on the table along with pieces of pie, home baked pie which smelled deliciously.

"That looks and smells absolutely delicious, Mrs... Mary." Emily said, changing her tune half-way through the sentence when she once again wanted to address JJ's mother in a proper way, the way she had learned to respect older people from and early age on. But it helped that Mary stared at her when she didn't say her name and didn't stop staring till the brunette pronounced her name. The woman erupted in a bright smile and picked the tray up to bring it back to the kitchen.

As soon as she left the table, Henry took his chance and made a run for it. Before anyone could react to his actions he was already swinging his hand towards the pie and mugs on the table. However before he had a chance to grab anything and potentially burn himself, JJ grabbed his hand and picked him up.

"Henry, do not take anything off the table without asking me, you know the rules." The blonde spoke sternly to her son while she reprimanded him. The small boy put out his bottom lip in a nearly perfect pout while he looked up at her with his big blue eyes. "Do not use that face on me, I invented that face!" JJ mocked the small child with a chuckle, soon Henry and Emily were chuckling along with her.

"Serves you right, honey." Mary replied while she sat down in one of the recliners; "That's what you get for using that face on your father and I countless of times when you were growing up. You had that face perfected at a young age but Henry, he beat you."

The front door opened and JJ's father stepped into the hallway greeted by the laughter of all three women. "Jenny, welcome home sweetie!"

"Daddy!" JJ said while she quickly got up and soon found herself wrapped in the warm and loving embrace of her father. The love between the two of them was obvious. Henry found himself squished between his mother and grandfather but he didn't mind, he embraced both of them as best as he could with his small arms. JJ let go of her son while she stepped back allowing her father to spend some time with his grandson. "Hi Henry, how have you been?"

"Good!" The small child exclaimed loudly, clasping his arms around his grandfather's neck. The older man hugged the small child before his eyes seeked out his daughters friend.

"You must be Emily." He said with a welcoming smile while he held his hand out.

"Yes, Emily Prentiss. It's good to meet you, sir." The brunette said while she stood and took his hand to shake.

"Nice to meet you too, Emily. Please call me William." His smile was genuine - Emily only hoped that it would stay that way. William Jareau sat down in a chair next to his wife across from Emily and JJ with Henry in his lap. The small child settled down easily when his grandfather shared his piece of pie with him. They talked for a while about little un-important things while they shared their coffees and pie.

"Hey sweetie, how about we get the bag with your toys out of my car. Would you like that?" Emily said while she looked down at the small child seated on her lap. He nodded his head with his thumb in his mouth and squealed a happy laugh when the dark haired woman picked him up and excused herself to the other adults before she left the room to retrieve the bag with Henry in her arms. Henry waved happily at his mother and grandparents over Emily's shoulder when they rounded the corner.

When JJ turned back towards her mother she couldn't help but notice her mother's cocked brow and without saying she knew what she wanted to ask. "We'll talk tonight when Henry's in bed." She promised her mother, while her father looked up questioningly.

Soon Emily returned with Henry, who was after her while she carried the bag that contained his toys and his diaper bag; "I figured you might need this one as well." She said with a loving smile directed towards the blonde before she sat down next to her and handed Henry some of his trucks.

After a while JJ's mother got up; "I'll better get started on dinner."

"Mary, is there something I can do to help?"

"You're a sweetheart, but that is not necessary."

Emily smiled; "I would love to help, I really enjoy cooking and JJ told me you do as well."

"Well, okay then I guess that we can give these two some time to catch up." Mary said with a smile while Emily followed her, they both retreated to the kitchen.

After dinner - when JJ put Henry to bed in her old room - they all sat down in the living room. JJ was nervous and she knew that Emily was doing no better, so she decided that she was just going to bite the bullet. She knew that her mother was already convinced that something was going on, and there was no use in worrying the older woman any more than necessary. She had seen her mother eying her more than once over the last couple of hours. "Mom, dad, I told you that I broke up with Will, and that I met someone new."

"Yes, honey why? Is something wrong? Did something happen to you or Henry?" Her father asked worriedly. "Last time you gave us a phone call to tell us that you were pregnant and in a relationship and now you drove all the way here?"

"Honey, that sounds so serious. What's going on?" Her mother asked almost simultaneously.

"No, mom, dad, nothing is wrong. Don't worry everything is exactly the way I want it to be. Emily and I ... we've been together for a while now." JJ took Emily's hand in hers and smiled lovingly at the brunette; "I've never felt this way before, not with anyone. Not even with Will. I know that it's sudden and that it may come as a surprise, but I hope that you can accept this."

"Sweetheart, when did this happen?" Mary asked her daughter softly while she observed them.

"A few months ago." JJ made a point of looking straight at her parents while she spoke; "Emily and I have been friends for years as you know. But recently, I realized that I felt something deeper for her, everything started to change. I made sure that I dealt with Will before I tried to figure out what it was that I was feeling."

"Does this mean that you never loved Will?" William asked his daughter, he had a straight face not showing what he was feeling at all when he looked straight at JJ.

"I loved him, but not the way I should have loved him, which is why I never agreed to marry him. It felt like love but not like the mind blowing kind of love that will last for the rest of my life. You know that he repeatedly asked me to marry him before and after Henry was born. And I declined each and every time, and it didn't make things easier." JJ sighed; "But we kept going nevertheless, struggling on. It didn't feel right and it wouldn't have been fair to him to marry him."

JJ's father nodded before he stood up; "I need to think about this." He turned and disappeared into the kitchen, seconds after he left they could hear the screen door slam.

It was no flat out rejection, but it hurt nevertheless. Emily hadn't said a word but she saw the blonde's usual confidence crumble in front of her. She wrapped her arms around the younger woman and held her close. Her mother watched the two of them intentely. Her daughter sobbing in the arms of her new lover - a woman - something she had never expected her daughter to find.

Love in another woman, it was sudden but somehow she had expected it when she watched the two of them interact. The glances - when they thought no one watched them. And the way Emily had stuttered when she'd asked her if she had a family of her own - the way she'd turned bright red and stared toward the living room where JJ was talking to her father before she asked a completely ridiculous question about the food that they were preparing. One she was sure Emily knew the answer to before she asked it.

Emily's eyes crossed with Mary's, the older woman got up and for a moment the brunette was afraid that she would walk out of the room after her husband. The older Jareau woman sank down on the other side of Jennifer and wrapped her arm around her daughter's shoulders. "Honey, don't worry about your dad. You know him, he needs some time to process all of this. He .. we just want you to be happy and it doesn't matter with who, as long as they treat you right." The older woman smiled at the brunette; "We aren't homophobic, you know that. You just have to understand that it is quite an adjustment. You've never shown any interest in women, and after thirty two years you come home with a - if I may say so lovely - woman."

"Do you really think that daddy will be fine with it?" The blonde sounded almost child-like while she spoke, as if she was really scared out of her mind that she had caused her father to love her any less.

"Honey, you may be a gun carrying FBI agent who can silence a room filled with reporters in an instance and who has a child herself. You'll always be your father's little girl." JJ's mother lifted her chin making eye contact with her daughter; "He knows it's a cruel world out there and he's just worried for you, and he needs to process what you told him in his own way before he reaches out to you. Which I am sure he will."

"What if..."

"Honey, no what if's ... he will." JJ's mother said almost sternly.

Emily got up; "Let me go talk to your father." She quickly turned on her heels and left the room before either woman could say something to her.

She pushed the screen door open and allowed her eyes to adjust to the darkness outside. Once she was able to see past the veranda into the garden, she could see William Jareau sitting in a chair staring into the darkness. "Sir, can I talk to you?" Emily asked politely.

He looked up at her, he seemed surprised but gestured to the chair next to him before he looked straight ahead into the darkness. Emily sank down into the chair. "Sir, I know that this is sudden but I want you to know that I have loved your daughter for years. And I..."

"What do you mean, years?"

"Ever since I started working with the BAU." Emily admitted for the first time to someone who wasn't JJ or Garcia. They sat in silence for a while, Emily contemplated her next move carefully before she spoke up. "My parents, we never had a good relationship. My mom is an Ambassador, she was always busy with her job and keeping everyone happy in whichever country she was working. Everything always revolved around my mother's work. My father was hardly ever around and if he was he and my mom fought about his infidelity."

"Why are you telling me all of this?" William Jareau asked while he looked at the woman besides him.

"Because I know how much you love your daughter and I know how much she loves you. I would hate it if me loving her would cause a rift between you and JJ. She doesn't deserve that, and neither do you or Mary. You're not like my parents, not by a long shot. My mother has known for years that I'm gay, still she denies it and every time we do meet she asks me if I finally found Mr. Right. And whenever she has a chance she will try to set me up with a friend of the family, a son of an Ambassador or a divorced man or a widower. She won't stop and while I'm used to being ignored by my mother, it hurts each and every time."

"Emily, this will not cause a rift between me and my daughter. I love her, nothing she does can ever change that. Nothing." He sighed; "I just know how difficult it can be, to be ... different, not everyone will accept you as a couple. There are so many things that will make life difficult for JJ, Henry and for you. Don't worry, I am not out here because I'm ignoring Jenny. It's quite a lot to take in, especially if there have never been any signs before."

Emily nodded in silence.

"Let's go inside." The older man said while he got up and waited for Emily to follow him. As soon as they entered the living room JJ stood up and closed the distance between them.

"Dad, I'm sorry for ..."

"Stop, sweetie. You have nothing to be sorry for." JJ sighed in relief and fell into her father's arms.


	32. Chapter 32

**Chapter 32 **

"Honey, don't say your sorry. You have nothing to say sorry for." His arms wrapped around his adult daughters small frame, and like she would have done when she was still his little girl, she sunk into his embrace. Her nerves finally calmed down while the tears she had attempted to hold back flowed freely down her cheeks, and with it she released the last bit of tension left in her body. "It might take some time to get used to you and Emily dating. But she's a wonderful person who loves you very much from what I've seen. And that is all I ever wanted for you, to find love like I did with your mother."

JJ's mother smiled at her husband's confession and nodded in agreement. Emily leaned against the door frame, she blushed deeply at the compliments she received and was glad that the area in which she was standing wasn't well lit. She watched the father and daughter bond in a moment she never had with her father, and she doubted she would ever have such a moment. From across the room JJ's mother caught her attention and mouthed 'thank you' to her. The brunette shrugged with a smile, downplaying what she did.

She quietly sat down on the couch and JJ sat down next to her as soon as she and her father broke apart. Soon, everyone was seated again and the conversation picked up. "So how long has this been going on?"

"Since Will and I broke up, I didn't feel right anymore, and my feelings for Emily changed. They had been changing for quite some time when I eventually became aware that I no longer saw a future with Will." The blonde corrected herself, turning toward Emily. Smiling at her, the brunette answered the gesture and took JJ's hand in her own, entangling their fingers. She pulled their joined hands into her lap. "It turned out that I wasn't the only one who was having these feelings."

JJ's mother mirrored the gesture while she looked up at her husband; "That is all we ever wanted for you." She spoke softly, yet clear enough for everyone to hear. He smiled at his wife before he turned towards JJ and nodded his head in agreement.

* * *

"Why's everyone staring at me?" Emily asked between gritted teeth while her eyes flew over the other patrons of the diner they were currently sitting in. The _only_ diner in East Alleghany, as JJ had explained to her with a roll of her eyes. Only to be corrected by her father who told her that they now had two diners, the blonde had rolled her eyes again but kept her mouth shut while the two of them left the house.

Her mother had asked her if she was sure that she wanted to go to the diner in town, where everyone would know who she was. Her mother hadn't meant it in a bad way, merely as a warning. Living and growing up in a small town had taught them all a few things.

"They might not be looking at you specifically. They haven't seen me in a long time, which could also be a reason why they're watching me. According to my parents, I'm somewhat of a 'legend'. After all, I do appear on television quite often and as you may have noticed, my parents are quite proud of that fact." The blonde teased with a smile.

"Well, Miss Small-Town-Celebrity, maybe that might be part of it, but that still doesn't explain why the people behind you keep looking at me." The brunette chuckled.

"You just hit the nail on the head, it's a small town and everyone knows everyone's business. That's the way it is and if you're dating me you just have to deal with it."

"So what you're saying is that they know..." Emily asked gesturing between the two of them, her eyes widened when the blonde nodded her head. "But how? We arrived yesterday afternoon, and besides your parents we've seen no one."

The media liaison shrugged. "Don't ask me, I have never figured that one out. But if something happens, within minutes everyone seems to be informed. I don't even try to understand it or claim to know how it happens, but some people seem to be occupied with what goes on with who on every given moment. Chances are that mom and dad ran into someone this morning when they took Henry with them."

"What?" The blonde looked up straight into the confused expression of the brunette. "What do you mean, when did that happen and where was I?"

"In bed, with me. Sleeping." The blonde answered with a smirk. "I thought you knew. I woke up and went to check on Henry when mom was getting up as well. Since dad retired they've made a habit of getting up early in the morning to take a long walk. Mom told me that they would take care of Henry and she sent me back to bed, she told me to enjoy my vacation."

JJ shrugged before she shifted her eyes back to the menu in front of her. "I'm pretty sure that they talked to someone this morning, and by the time we got up, the _whole_ town was probably already aware of our arrival." It didn't bother her; she knew that this was bound to happen, that's just the way it worked in a small town. JJ snapped the menu shut and stared at the brunette.

"What are you going to have?" Emily asked JJ who was obviously done studying the menu.

"I don't even know why I bother checking the menu, it's been the same for as long as I can remember." The media liaison sighed in frustration.

"Which would make it that much easier to recommend something to me." The brunette replied with a smile.

"True. I'll order something for you, I'm sure you'll love it." The blonde got up from the table and retreated to the counter quickly, where she spoke to the cook for a while before she returned to the table and sat down with a smug smile on her face.

"What did you do?" Emily asked, raising her brow at the blonde across from her. The younger woman just grinned but didn't elaborate any further, and she redirected the conversation into some random small talk while they patiently waited for their lunch. Or at least in JJ's case it was, not so much in Emily's case though.

"Of course I know all about your guilty pleasures. You do know that I receive all of the bills from the hotels and that I have to file them for accounting? I've noticed that when we have a particularly gruelling case, you'll order this. It's like you'll let yourself have it because you're working a difficult case, one that takes everything from you. I noticed the trend, and when you asked me to help you figure out what you should order, I got this for you because I think that you should treat yourself more often to something you love so much.''

Emily smiled gratefully. "Thank you."

"I'm supposed to know what you like." JJ shrugged the comment off with a smile.

"Since everyone already seems to know about us maybe I should show you around town. Give you a taste of small town living." JJ said while she opened the door of the diner to step outside.

"Okay, show me all there is to see in East Alleghany!" Emily replied with a smug smile. "So that'll take about five minutes, what are we going to do the rest of the afternoon?"

JJ swatted Emily against her upper arm. "Even in a town like East Alleghany it'll take longer than five minutes. I know that it's not nearly as impressive as multiple countries all over the world, but it is what it is."

"Well then lets start the grand tour. What will be our first stop, nursery school?" The brunette asked with a quirked brow.

"Actually, no. I don't think that we had one back in the day. And, Miss Prentiss, as if you ever went to nursery school, you probably had nannies who took care of you."

"Ouch!" Emily feigned hurt, before she smiled. "I guess I had that coming, didn't I."

The blonde shrugged. "You bet you did. I guess we can start with elementary school. Do you really want to see this?" She asked her girlfriend while she hooked her arm into Emily's.

"Of course I want to see where you grew up, why wouldn't I want to see that?" Emily took a hold of JJ's hand and raised it to kiss on the top of her hand.

JJ led the way, she pointed out where she used to hang out with her friends and the all too famous bar where she learned to kick ass at darts. For the next hour or so they walked around town, where JJ showed Emily where she grew up, when they ended up in front of the soccer fields that where part of the high school.

"The soccer fields, where you became a true legend to this town." Emily spoke with a teasing smirk while she looked out over the field trying to imagine the younger version of JJ, the one she saw in the pictures at her parents, home, dressed in her soccer uniform and running around the field stealing the ball from the opposite team to score.

"Yes, we were good. I played in an amazing team." With a dreamy look JJ gazed in the distance. Playing for the team had given her some of her best memories of her youth. She loved to run around the field, steal the ball from the opposite team with a fast, unexpected trick and score while the other player were still trying to figure out what happened to them.

"Rumour has it that you've were quite the star. According to legend and your parents house, you where quite the talented young player."

"They are my parents." JJ rolled her eyes. "They're just proud of me." The blonde downplayed her talent a bit.

"They sure are. But I heard that you got a full scholarship. They don't just hand them out because your team is good." Emily answered with a smile.

"How do you ... you know what there is only one answer to that question. Garcia." Another eye roll and a smile crossed over JJ's face before she became serious again. "There is one place left I want to go."

"Okay, where is that?"

"The cemetery." JJ said softly, her head bend down looking at their joined hands.

"Okay, do you want me to go with you?" Emily asked while she lifted JJ's chin with her finger. The blonde's eyes where filled with un-shed tears.

"Yes. Yes, I want you to go with me."

"Then I will. If you want me to wait outside of the cemetery I will do that too. It's all up to you." JJ leaned forward and kissed Emily, grateful for the understanding that the older woman had for the situation.

Together, hand in hand, they reached the large iron gate that gave entrance to the cemetery, when JJ halted. She bit her lip while she gazed past the serenely looking entrance. "You sure about this?" The brunette asked the blonde gently.

JJ raised her eyes to Emily's and stared into the dark brown orbs that she trusted with all her heart. She nodded, the grip on Emily's hand tightened while she stepped forward. She led the way through countless graves on either side of the path.

JJ stopped in front of a well-kept marble stone stating Amy's name. The media liaison let go of Emily's hand and kneeled down, her fingers touched the sun-warmed stone. "There have been so many times that I wished you where still here, and this is surely on of those. I wished that you where here to tease me about falling in love with another woman. I'm sure you would have teased me and told me that you had known all along because I was always mentioning Emily on the phone. I wished that you where here to meet her just like I wanted you to meet Henry."

Emily stood behind JJ watching the younger woman. She wanted to do something, but she wasn't sure what she could do for her girlfriend. Should she say something, do something or should she just give JJ this moment to work through everything she was feeling? But when JJ's shoulders shook with sobs the brunette stepped forward and helped JJ into a standing position before she wrapped her arms around the younger woman. She whispered sweet nothings to the media liaison, and soon the blonde calmed down considerably. "I never talk about Amy." She admitted softly.

"I know, but things are different now. You got me, if you feel the need to remember her you can talk to me." The brunette offered with a simple shrug. She didn't want to downplay JJ's feelings; she just wanted to make it a topic they could talk about easily.

In fact, in a way, even though the subject of Amy's death was painful for JJ, Emily hoped that talking about Amy would open up a dialogue about their pasts. She wanted to know everything there was to know about the blonde and she was sure that JJ wanted to know about her past too.

Emily and JJ walked back to her parents' house, hand in hand. When they arrived they found JJ's father and Henry playing with a soccer ball outside, while JJ's mother was sitting on the porch watching them. JJ smiled and let go of Emily's hand to join her father and son.

Emily walked across the grass and sat down next to Mary Jareau, who greeted her with a warm smile. "Did you two have a nice lunch?" She asked while she watched her husband, daughter and grandson play soccer on the grass in front of her. The two adults had given Henry every advantage possible and the small child cheered loudly when he passed his grandfather and his mother with the ball before he picked it up and ran off, not fully grasping the full effect of a soccer game.

Emily laughed at Henry's antics before she answered the question. "Yes, we did. Thank you, it was really nice of you to watch Henry for us."

"No need to thank us darling, we would love to see him more often than we have. But with JJ's work it has been difficult to find a time where we could come to Washington or she could come here. Of course the fact that we didn't really get along with Will didn't really help all that much either. But that is all in the past now." Mary added with a content smile.

The brunette chose to ignore the last statement of the older Jareau woman. She had never heard anything about unresolved issues between Will and the Jareau's, she just knew that it had been quite a while since JJ went home. "JJ showed me around town, it's beautiful. It's so nice and quite, the complete opposite from where I grew up." She had actually enjoyed the small town with the beautiful farms the surrounding areas. Though she could understand growing up here as a teenager would have been quite different from the way she was looking at the town right now.

"Where did you grow up, Emily?"

The question that Emily hated so much was asked, and usually she kind of avoided answering it, but not today. "All around the world actually. My mother is a US Ambassador; she has been stationed all around the world. So the Ukraine, Italy, France and the Middle East mostly."

"That sure sounds like an exciting life, more exciting than living in a small town like East Alleghany."

"Most people think that, but when you live it it's actually quite hard. You can't plan anything too far ahead because you won't know if you are still living in that part of the world once that date arrives. Just when you start to feel at home, you're told to pack up your stuff and move to a new country, all with their own customs and habits. You're always the one that doesn't fit in, just when you're used to Tel Aviv and learned enough Hebrew to get around, you have to speak Italian."

Emily shrugged. "It would have been great to grow up in this town, but I guess that if you live here you see it from a different viewpoint." Honesty, that was the key.

"I guess you're right." Mary laughed when JJ picked Henry up as she passed the ball around her father and scored. Together with Henry, she cheered loudly for the goal she made.

"William taught both of our girls how to play soccer, but JJ was a real talent. I'm sure she showed you the soccer fields where she used to play her games. The local high school, the one that JJ attended, still has her picture up because she's the top scorer even after all of these years. Lots of girls have tried to pass her record but no one even came close. If you and JJ stay together, I foresee many soccer games in your future."

Both women laughed genuinely. "I think you are right about that, I'm planning on sticking around." Emily admitted sincerely.

Unaware of the conversation that had been going on between her mother and her girlfriend, JJ called out to them to join in on the soccer game. Soon everyone was running around the field after the ball.


	33. Chapter 33

**AN: I am so sorry, I had a bit of a struggle with these next few chapters and I wanted to have a couple done to be a bit more secure about the route that this story is taking. I hope that you all stayed with me and that you will love this. I'll update again in a few days, that is a promise!  
**

**Chapter 33**

It had been a couple of days since JJ and Emily arrived at JJ's childhood home, and they were settling in perfectly. After the often high stress cases they worked the peace and quite of the small town came as a blessing, even JJ reluctantly admitted that living in a small town had it's own charm. Though both just as easily agreed that city life had a lot more to offer.

Emily had made a joke about coming here once she retired, which in her case could be any day now if she cracked open that trust fund of hers. JJ had raised her brow but didn't say anything. They never really discussed money; JJ knew that Emily was rich; that she might not even really need her job if push came to shove; yet they had never talked about it.

But now that JJ thought about it she wondered if Emily was just making fun about it or if it was the reality, could she really retire if she wanted too? And where would that leave her and Henry? Since JJ didn't want to start this discussion around her parents, she decided to push it to the back of her mind, but she knew that if they got more serious they would have to discuss it.

Both of them were enjoying their free time together with Henry and JJ's parents. JJ and Emily visited Pittsburgh one afternoon while JJ's parents watched Henry. They had a lovely dinner together in one of the many fine establishments. However, since they only had a week off the end of their holiday was approaching fast.

One afternoon, Emily and Henry were playing in the backyard when JJ stepped outside holding two mugs full of steaming hot coffee. She sunk down in one of the chairs on the back porch and watched her girlfriend and her son play together.

She loved the carefree laugh that erupted from Emily's throat - one that she didn't hear all that often when they were working, not even when they were going out with Garcia. Sure the brunette laughed, but not the way she was laughing right now while playing with her son. The blonde praised herself lucky because she knew that many women who had children had trouble finding a new partner.

The brunette didn't see that JJ came outside and sat down on the porch and the blonde didn't make herself known. She just wanted to enjoy watching them together without her interrupting them. If she wanted them to live together as a family she knew that she needed to give Emily her alone time with Henry, just as much as she needed her alone time with her son - something which Emily seemed to notice often before JJ did, and Emily made sure that she had that time whenever she could. For now she would just enjoy watching them play together. It was awesome to see her girlfriend and son bonding the way they were. It made her feel even more secure about the future.

The screen door opened and Mary stepped outside; the older woman sat down next to her daughter and smiled while she watched her grandson and her daughter's girlfriend. "She's really good with him."

"Yes, I know." JJ replied with a proud smile, she reached down and picked up the coffee mug; "I brought it for Emily but I decided that I didn't want to interrupt them, I'll get her a new one when she's done playing."

"Thank you!" Mary smiled gratefully while she took the mug from her daughter. "How are things at work?"

"Good. You know, difficult cases but I like what I do." JJ smiled – she knew that her mother didn't understand the reason why she choose this job, nevertheless she knew that her parents were proud of her after all what she did made the world a little bit better - her eyes still fixed on Emily and Henry.

"What about your relationship with Emily. Do they know?"

"Garcia knows."

"You know that's not what I meant, Jennifer." Mary smiled; "She's your best friend and from what I heard, also Emily's friend. I would have been surprised if you would have been able to keep this from her. Besides that, she told me she's known as your teams' personal oracle last time we visited you. The woman is very talkative and not at all shy, I would have been worried if Penelope hadn't known about your relationship with your other best friend."

JJ rolled her eyes; "You're right, there is no way we would have gotten something like this past our local oracle, besides that Pen has been helping us out whenever we needed some alone time or when we wanted to go on a date. It's been difficult asking Will to take Henry solely because I want to go out on a date with my girlfriend. He accepts it, but he's not happy about it and he claims that he's always suspected that Emily wanted something more."

"Did she?"

"Yes." The blonde answered in honesty.

"You knew her before you knew Will, why did your relationship change only recently?"

"I guess ... no, I know that Emily never thought that I could love her in that way. She was the one who told me to go after Will in Miami when we worked his friends case, she specifically told me to go after him." JJ smiled, knowing now what she'd missed all of those years, she almost wished that they had figured it out earlier, but she knew that there was no use living with 'what if's' because they could never happen thus useless pondering about.

"Emily settled for being my friend and you have to believe me that she never tried anything. She's an honourable person." Mary nodded and smiled while she watched her daughter, a silence fell between them, a comfortable one, both nursing over their own thoughts as they sipped their coffee.

"Jennifer, if the two of you are happy, why did you not tell your friends? You always tell me that they're your family away from home." Mary sounded curious, not resentful. She knew that JJ loved her and her father but that she also needed her friends and that she found a wonderful surrogate family in her co-workers.

"We have been talking about it, since we work on the same team our relationship could potentially cause problems. It's difficult, we have the same rank so that isn't the problem per say. If either one of us had been a superior one of us would have certainly lost their job, definitively. Since we have the same rank we don't know what might happen, especially due to the fact that our Section Chief is not a fan of our team. One, or maybe both of us might loose our jobs and we don't want to force our team to lie for us so that we can keep our jobs. So for now we decided that we keep quiet and see where this leads and we will make a decision regarding our future together in a little while and act accordingly."

JJ turned her attention back towards Emily who was still playing with Henry on the grass in the backyard. "I love her. I really do and she understands me. She knows that I'm an independent woman and she accepts that from me, so when we were talking about the future and our jobs, Emily told me that she would resign to make sure that I could keep my job. She knows that I want to earn my own money to take care of myself and Henry. I don't want to lean on her or trust that she'll pay for our expenses. Will never got that, it bothered me that he would continue asking me to quite my job.

The way that he assumed that I would become a stay at home mom and even after he claimed that the stress at work induced my labour, he used that as a reason of why I should be at home with Henry. Emily isn't like that, she either knows what I want or she listens to me. Because there is only one me, while there are five profilers. And as much as I love her for being that selfless I can't let her do it, she fought to get that job, really fought. She has risked so much to keep it. I can't take it away from her." JJ bit her lip while she thought about what she had just confessed to her mother. She really did love Emily and she didn't doubt that they had a future together.

Mary watched her daughter intently; she wondered if she should ask what JJ meant by Emily having to fight to keep her job. The choice was made easy for her, when Emily - with Henry in tow - approached them on the back porch. A little out of breath, her hair in a messy ponytail and her jeans were actually covered in grass stains. JJ smiled at Emily's appearance, she had never seen the older woman looking quite like this.

Emily stepped up onto the porch; "Hey, I didn't notice you come outside." The brunette said a little out of breath, before she leaned down and kissed JJ who eagerly kissed her back.

"I've been here for a while, I watched you and Henry play, it was cute. I didn't want to interrupt you. Oh, by the way I had some coffee for you but since you were playing and my mom came out I gave it to her. Sit down. I'm going to get you some now."

Emily stopped JJ from getting up; "Sweetie, I'll get the coffee. Do either of you want a refill?" JJ certainly didn't get her love for coffee from a stranger, both Jareau women held up their empty mugs for Emily to take. The brunette quickly disappeared into the kitchen to return minutes later before she sat down in one of the empty chairs.

A day later Emily was organizing their bags in the back of her car while JJ was inside the house talking to her parents, promising them that they would visit them more often than she had in the past and extending an invitation to visit them in Washington DC soon.

Emily had really enjoyed her stay at the Jareau home and she had felt extremely welcome. Mary and William Jareau took her into their family without doubting their daughter's sudden change of heart when it came to who she loved. The brunette felt more at home with JJ's parents than she ever felt with her own parents, it was strange the way some things seemed to work out.

Emily made her way from the car to he house and stepped inside the hallway where JJ just took Henry from her mother's arms. Emily halted by the door, though not for long; "Emily, honey come here." Mary Jareau said before she enveloped the brunette in her loving arms. "I trust you to take good care off my daughter and grandson. And we'll see you soon, or so my daughter promises me." Mary said with a mock glare directed at her adult daughter who always promised to come by more often but with her busy work schedule never quite seemed to make it.

"Mom, I can take perfectly good care of myself, thank you very much." JJ replied a little embarrassed by her mothers comment while her cheeks coloured a deeper shade of pink.

"Yes, I know you can and I am sure that Emily knows that too, but if you two are together, taking care of you and Henry becomes one of her tasks. Just like I am asking you to take care of Emily, honey." Mary answered with a smile; "You're a family now and it's important that you both see it that way, especially since my grandson is involved."

"Mom! We know that. You have seen it with your own eyes, Emily is really good with him." JJ exclaimed; "She loves him, there's nothing she wouldn't do for him. What more can I ask for?"

"It's just a reminder for the both of you because I know that Emily doesn't want to take Will's place, but no matter how you turn it if you two are moving in or at least spending time at your place Jennifer, Henry is bound to see Emily more than Will. So she becomes a part of his family. That is unavoidable. I am just reminding the both of you that you are a family and that you should act as one." Mary smiled - little bit of mother's advice had never hurt anyone before.

Emily's skin tone matched JJ's before she spoke up, tears glistened in her eyes; "Thank you for the trust you put in me and I promise that I will take good care of your daughter and grandson." Emily stepped forward and hugged the older woman while a tear of relief rolled down her cheek.

She felt loved and accepted by people who she didn't even know a mere week ago. JJ's father was next in line for a hug, his large calloused hand stroked up and down Emily's back in a caring gesture before they released their hold on each other. Emily stepped back and smiled, quickly wiping away another stray tear before she offered to take Henry from JJ. The blonde took her turn to hug her parents and thank them for the wonderful week they had before they headed out to the car. At the end of the driveway they waved at JJ's parents and their drive home started.

JJ and Will had agreed beforehand that JJ and Emily would drop Henry off at his apartment once they arrived back in Washington. JJ had all too happily agreed to that - she was glad that Will and she were able to talk about Henry in a civil way and that neither one of them felt the need to keep the other away from the small child, she hoped that their relationship would always stay that way - so once the city skyline came in sight in the early afternoon she turned towards the back seat and smiled at a still sleeping Henry.

"He's still out for the count. Well at least he'll be awake when we drop him off at Will's. It would have been a shame if he slept all afternoon when he's there." JJ spoke softly before she turned back to the front seat and smiled at Emily. "It'll be weird not having him around for the next three days when we spend almost a full week with him." She mumbled softly.

"I suppose. I think that I'll be able to come up with a thing or two to keep your mind off it." Emily smiled while she wiggled her brows in a teasing manner.

"I'm sure that you can, Prentiss!" JJ replied with a chuckle.

"Oh, don't act like you don't like what I am talking about Jayje! No offence but after spending a couple of days in your parents house, in your childhood bedroom I think that it is safe to assume that you just like me might have ehm ... certain needs that need to be taken care off." The brunette said stopping mid-sentence to check the rear-view mirror before continuing.

"You bet I do." The blond answered turning slightly pink at her admission before she turned to gaze outside the window while increasingly familiar looking streets flowed by. Emily parked the car when they finally reached Will's neighbourhood and waited till JJ returned.

Her fingers where impatiently drumming on the steering wheel to the beat of the song she was softly singing. It took maybe five minutes for JJ to return but Emily's impatience was growing by the second, she wanted to go home, the long drive had taken its toll on her. She was ready to go home and drop down on the couch, call a restaurant for a food delivery and relax, preferably with JJ in her arms. The brunette was lost in thought and she didn't see JJ approach the car, she jumped a little when the door opened and the blonde sunk down into the car seat next to Emily.

"He'll bring Henry back on Sunday night, around seven." JJ said while she fastened her seatbelt. "How about we call Pen and see if she would like to get some dinner with us? I want to thank her for all her help these past months."

"I like the plan but I would really like to spend the evening with you, just the two of us, can we please do that?" Emily said with a smile. "I know that Pen deserves a thank you, a really big one at that. Without her it would have been nearly impossible to have a regular date and she saved us quite a couple of times from revealing our secret." Emily said with a grin.

"What do you want to do tonight?"

"Order some food and settle down on the couch, watch a movie. Go to bed early..." Emily said clearly stating the meaning behind her words with a wiggle of her brows.

"I think I like your idea." JJ agreed with her lover.


	34. Chapter 34

**Chapter 34**

Once they returned to work on Monday after their week off, the team was soon consumed by the constant flow of cases. Days turned into weeks and just as easily into months. Before they really knew it they had celebrated their six-month anniversary and Thanksgiving was just around the corner. Emily had been making plans for Thanksgiving, their team would be off as long as there where no new cases that needed their immediate attention. Which was always a gamble, but since it was their first Thanksgiving together Emily wanted to make sure that it would be a memorable one.

As far as JJ knew they were going to celebrate it with just the three of them, as a sort of family. But that wasn't what Emily was planning, she had been browsing websites with recipes for days now and she had finally put together a menu that she was content with. While she was growing up her mother always made sure that their family was cared for by nannies and housekeepers. When Emily was a little older Maria, their housekeeper, had taken great pleasure in showing Emily - who was eager to learn - how to cook and she was eager to start.

JJ was out to the store with Henry, which gave Emily the time to take care of the last remaining tasks on her to do list. Emily had made sure that JJ and Henry would be out of the house on Thanksgiving day so Emily would have enough time to start dinner and get ready for the evening. Garcia was - as usual - the friend she could always count on, once again she was in on the secrets surrounding the ideas for Thanksgiving. She had just finished the last phone call on her list when she heard JJ open the front door and Henry barrelling down the hallway towards the kitchen. "We're back, Em'ly!" The little boy exclaimed when he rounded the corner into the kitchen.

"I can see that! Did you have fun shopping with mama?" Emily asked while she picked Henry up and sat him down on her lap, his brightly smiling face was covered in some kind of sticky substance. Emily reached behind her and grabbed the box with wet towels, which stood on the counter top behind her and started to clean Henry's face off when JJ stepped into the kitchen with a grocery bag in each hand.

"Someone is doing her mommy duties, I see." The blonde said with a smile to her lover before she bend down and kissed her on the cheek.

The brunette chuckled; "Well someone had to do it, the kid is sticky and I didn't want him to rub it on me when he tries to hug or kiss me." Emily exclaimed loudly, she didn't react to the fact that JJ called them 'mommy duties'. She didn't see it as duties, she loved the little boy and she didn't mind taking care of him.

"Remind me to never let him have ice cream on his own again, especially not when I've forgotten to take the wet towels with me." The blonde chuckled while she ruffled Henry's hair and started putting away the groceries one by one.

"Can I hug you now?" Henry asked giggling loudly while he wrapped his arms around Emily's neck and hugged her.

"What were you doing?" JJ asked pointing at the laptop in front of her.

"Looking up some recipes for Thanksgiving, you know doing some research." _And not telling you that I just made the last few arrangements with your mother. _Emily thought with a smile.

"Yeah about that, I called my mother and she told me that they can't come because she had already agreed to seeing some friends. She didn't think that we would have Thanksgiving off, so she went ahead and agreed to meeting some friends and everything has already been taken care off." The blonde sounded a tad bit disappointed and Emily felt almost obligated to tell her about the surprise, _almost_.

"I guess I kind of brought that upon myself, after all these past years I haven't been home all that much, I can't expect them to not make their own plans in the off chance that I'm going to ask them to come to me. Oh and Garcia is going to meet Kevin's parents so they won't be able to come either but I'm going to meet her beforehand at the mall."

"Good, that gives me time to prepare dinner. We'll see your parents soon, just not with Thanksgiving." Emily pulled JJ closer to her and wrapped her arm around the blonde.

"I know."

"Why you sad, momma?"

"I am not sad, honey. You're here and Emily is here, how can I be sad." JJ answered her son's question with a bright smile but the sadness was still present in her eyes. Emily felt kind of bad for JJ's sadness but she wanted to keep this a secret till, well till her parents where here in front of their door.

Garcia had picked JJ and Henry up hours ago and Emily had been working on her dinner. The brunette was preparing several different dishes and the kitchen was filled with delicious smells, unfortunately the counters and the breakfast bar looked like a disaster area. Emily was trying to clean it all up before JJ and Henry returned but she failed miserably when she heard the familiar sound of the front door opening.

She stepped out into the hallway and greeted them happily. JJ immediately commented on the smells that flowed into the hallway. The brunette smiled; "Thanks, we'll its still going to be some time till we can eat. Henry, did you have a nice day with Aunty Pen and momma?" She asked the little boy who was bouncing around - obviously on a sugar rush - in the hallway.

"Yes! Yes! Yes!" Henry squealed loudly; "Aunty Pen gots me a car." He said holding up the toy car for Emily to see.

"Oh wow! That's a nice looking car." Emily replied in awe while she inspected the car.

"NO! It's a _cool_ car!" The little boy replied with raised brows.

"You're right, it's not a nice looking car it's a cool one. My mistake, sweetie." Emily quickly gave in, and who could really argue with an almost three year olds logic.

"Damn Emily! Who did you invite the orphanage or the homeless?" JJ's voice exclaimed the moment she entered the kitchen, just out of the brunette's eyesight.

"What do you mean?" Emily asked innocently while she entered the kitchen behind JJ with Henry in her tracks.

"There is so much!" The blonde exclaimed while she peaked into the oven and the fridge.

"Not that much, its Thanksgiving. I have a lot to be thankful for and it's better to have too much than too little especially on a day like today." The brunette shrugged.

"Well this is an awful lot." She said pointing around the kitchen.

"Don't worry about it, we can always put it in the freezer and reheat it later." She checked her watch and continued cleaning the kitchen up. "I need about thirty more minutes and then I'm done."

"What can I do to help?"

"You? Go play with Henry or watch a movie with him or something. I got this under control, completely."

"No really, I can help." The blonde stated with a smile.

"Jayje, please just take thirty minutes to play with Henry and I will be done here and we can enjoy a nice family dinner."

"A family dinner, I like the sound of that." JJ mused softly while she stepped forward to Emily; she leaned in closely and kissed the older woman.

"That is what we are, right?" The brunette asked between kisses. The blonde nodded and smiled into the kiss, confirming what Emily already expected her to answer. JJ smiled before she took Henry with her into the living room, leaving Emily on her own in the kitchen. A smile played on her lips while she was putting the finishing touches to the meal. Ten minutes before JJ arrived home she had received a text message telling her that JJ's parents where about forty minutes away from their home. She was eagerly waiting for the bell to ring and even more for JJ's reaction.

Emily didn't have to wait long though, JJ had ventured into the kitchen again, she was sipping from her glass of wine while she was watching Emily - since Henry was engaged in a 'Cars' movie on the television and the brunette didn't allow her to help - the blonde leaned against the counter while they where softly talking.

JJ was just telling Emily that Garcia was freaking out all afternoon - even though she and Kevin had been dating for quite a while - she was officially meeting Kevin's parents for the first time and she was nervous, which according to JJ's claim was an understatement. She told the brunette that she had never seen Garcia act like that, she was usually very sure of herself. The doorbell rang immediately stopping their conversation, JJ looked up confused; "Are we expecting someone?"

"No, I'm not expecting anyone. You?" Emily asked, looking completely innocently at JJ.

JJ turned on her heels and stepped into the hallway to open the door, Emily followed stealthily leaning against the door frame of the kitchen while JJ reached her hand out to open the door. The moment she caught a glimpse of her parents on the outside a squeal escaped from her deep within her throat. "Oh my God! Emily! My parents!" She turned around towards the brunette who was still leaning against the door jab with a broad smile. "You knew and you didn't tell me!" JJ turned back towards her parents; she fell into her mother's arms and hugged her. Henry, who had heard the commotion came running into the hallway as well, was immediately wrapped in a bear hug courtesy of his grandfather.

"Look Em'ly, grandma and grandpa!"

Emily moved closer; "I know! Isn't that great!" The brunette smiled at the small child before she hugged Mary Jareau.

"You knew!" JJ exclaimed again before she hugged Emily. "I knew that something was going on, but not this! That is why you prepared such copious amounts of food."

Emily simply answered with a nod and a smile while she took Marie and William's coats from them before she returned to the kitchen to continue her work on the Thanksgiving dinner, which was almost done. Soon everyone was seated around the dinner table, Henry proudly between his grandparents in his highchair and JJ across from them. She had been shoo-ed out of the kitchen three times by Emily before she had finally relented and taken a seat. Emily brought in the different dishes and placed them on the center of the table.

Dinner went well, without a single hitch. The delicious smells didn't do justice to the food; actually tasting it was even better. Emily's cooking skills surprised everyone, even JJ - who thought that she by now had been very familiar with the brunette's skills in the kitchen, which far exceeded her own cooking skills even though she wasn't bad either.

Marie Jareau couldn't stop talking about the turkey stuffing and Emily had to promise her to give her the recipe. And Marie told Emily that she better keep next years Thanksgiving free to come up to East Allegheny because they would be cooking Thanksgiving dinner together. It wasn't a request, but it made Emily feel like she belonged - she had her own place in the Jareau family. Finally she felt like she belonged in a family, she promised Marie that she would be there. JJ and her father where smiling at the interaction between the two other women at the table, JJ smiled mischievously at her father and winked; "Is it okay if I come too?" The blonde asked with her perfectly serious media liaison face.

"Jennifer honey, you never need an invitation to come home you know that." Marie answered her daughters question with a smile knowing that she was only kidding.

JJ smiled at Emily and her mother glad that things between them where working out so well. Even though they had only seen each other twice and talked a couple of times on the phone.

Emily had made sure that JJ's parents would be set up at the best room at their hotel and once they where ready to leave she had called them a cab after all they had been drinking. The two of them had said goodbye to JJ's parents and promised to pick them up in the morning for a day trip. JJ and Emily wanted to show JJ's parents around the city, which would also allow them to spend the day with their grandson. Emily had returned to the kitchen and started to fill the dishwasher. JJ pitched in and together they were finished quickly.

Once they where in bed, JJ - who had been reading in one of her novels - placed the book on the bedside table and before Emily could realise what was happening the blonde was already on top of her. Smiling down at her, both hands placed firmly on the brunette's shoulders. "How come you didn't tell me that my parents where coming over for Thanksgiving, Emily?"

"I ... we wanted to surprise you." Emily smiled; "Remember a few weeks ago when we came home with Henry, the phone was ringing and I picked up. Well your mother was calling and we talked while you put Henry to bed. That's when we got the idea to surprise you, because your mother told me that you hadn't been home for Thanksgiving for the past two years and I knew how important it was to your parents." The brunette raised her hand up to the blonde's face and caressed her gently, she guided a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "I told her that this year was important to me too because I have a lot to be thankful for and I invited them to visit us."

"Okay, so that explains how this conversation started but why did you leave me in the dark?" The blonde asked, wanting more clarification on the matter.

"It was a surprise!" Emily exclaimed, with a roll of her eyes before she turned serious." I love you, I love the life that we share with Henry, and your parents are the sweetest people I have ever met. You've met my mother. She can't accept me for the choices that I made for my life, even though I'm her daughter. However, your parents didn't know me when I stepped out of that car and they took me in. I feel like I have a family now and I wanted to share this 'Thanksgiving' with the people that I love, with my family." The brunette spoke softly afraid that her voice would break if she tried to speak up. "I love you, Jennifer."

"I love you too, Emily." The blonde replied still looking down on her lover; "No one ever did what you do for me, you always seem to know what I need, sometimes even before I know it."

"Ah yes it's a true gift." Emily answered with a mischievous smirk playing on her lips and a sparkle in her eyes. The confident way of speaking threw JJ off for a second, and in the split second that her concentration faltered Emily switched their positions around. Suddenly she was the one looking down while JJ looked up. Now that she had full control the brunette made quick work of seducing the younger woman.

A deep moan escaped from the younger woman's slightly parted lips, a moan which only spurred Emily on even more.

The next day started early, Emily and JJ had promised to pick up JJ's parents from their hotel for a day in the city. Emily had set up a schedule catering to everyone's specific needs and wants. Some things where meant specifically for Henry while other were more interesting for JJ's parents or grown-ups in general. She had made an effort to find the time to fit something in for everyone and yet she had also kept enough free time for a nice lunch and dinner during the day. They had little time after all the next day would be the day that Mary and William Jareau where returning to East Alleghany.


	35. Chapter 35

**Chapter 35**

The BAU team had finally closed their latest case; the team took it hard - like they always did when a case involved missing kids. Four kids went missing in a matter of days, the families kept hope because they didn't find any bodies. But when they finally found the unsub, they also found the lifeless bodies of three of the children. In finding the unsub and one of the children alive they counted themselves lucky, gruesome as that may sound.

They honestly didn't expect to find any of them, for the most part of the week the unsub had been a complete ghost. He came in, snatched away the kids, and left no evidence to speak of. Thousands of people had joined up to volunteer in the search since the news about the missing children broke. Though it wasn't people that found the Unsub, nor was it the BAU team - they where still trying to figure out where their Unsub was hiding out when a broken tail light in a simple traffic control revealed the Unsub's true identity, he was caught red handed with one of the children in the back seat bound and gagged covered by a blanket.

While they didn't find all the answers themselves, the team let out a sigh of relief when the news reached them. It was now to the counsellors to help the families of the murdered children to grieve and to help the ones that survived to move forward. The little girl that survived was left in the capable hands of the doctors at the hospital she was taken to and her parents. The unsub was in jail while the case against him was being built, and it was strong. He was not getting out for a long, long time if even at all.

However, the team was exhausted and they couldn't have been happier to go back to their hotel rooms and grab their go bags. They where used to living out of their bags and most of their belongings never left their it hence they were packed quickly. Everyone had been eager to leave and Emily and JJ had been no exception. They wanted to go home and sleep in their own bed. Even though they had shared a hotel room on this case, it was always different than being home - they needed to be pro's if they ever wanted to get a chance to stay together and keep their jobs.

JJ had been tired all week, feeling like she was running on fumes. She was simply exhausted by the time they started to pack their luggage and when they reached the airport she'd been half asleep in the back of one of the SUV's. Emily had to nudge her gently before it even registered that they had arrived.

The two of them followed the others to the small aircraft and sat down next to each other. Soon the blonde was passed out against Emily's shoulder. Reid, who noticed, smiled at the brunette and handed her a blanket, which she draped over JJ's sleeping form with a thankful smile. The lanky doctor shrugged and smiled back before he sunk into a chair as well and averted his attention on the book he retrieved from his brown leather book bag, it took mere seconds before he was completely consumed by the words in front of him.

Derek returned from the kitchen area of the plane with a mug of coffee and sat down across from Reid with his signature headphones perched on his bald head, and soon his eyes were closed as well. No one knew if he actually slept or if he was just listening to the music, no one ever asked him either. Rossi and Hotch sat in the back of the plane silently discussing the case or something of that nature. Emily looked around the plane one last time making sure that no one was paying attention to them before she placed a kiss on JJ's head and relaxed into her seat as well. She wrapped her arm around JJ's body underneath the blanket, hidden for anyone with wandering eyes.

Once they set in for the landing usually everyone would wake up, but JJ didn't wake up when the pilot warned them to fasten their seat belts - like she usually did - and when Emily finally managed to wake her up she was really out of it. At first the brunette figured that the blonde had just been in deep sleep when she woke up, but it didn't get any better.

All of them where exhausted but no one seemed as affected by the case as much as JJ was. Emily flung her own bag over her shoulder and helped JJ up, Derek grabbed JJ's bag and followed the two women out of the plane. Once they reached the parking lot Emily spoke up to the team before anyone else could make any suggestions; "I'll take JJ home, I'll stay at her house tonight to make sure that she's okay. It's not like we haven't shared a room before." The brunette replied with a smile. JJ just smiled weakly, she didn't even try to object. The team nodded in agreement, all were of course thinking that JJ was single since Will and she broke up, except for Garcia none of them was any the wiser.

Soon the brunette was driving them home, with trouble she helped JJ up the stairs and into bed. She was worried about the blonde's demeanour - it wasn't like her at all. As soon as the blonde hit her bed she was out cold, Emily undressed her as much as she could without waking the blonde up again knowing that it wouldn't make much of a difference anyway and placed the blankets on top of her.

The brunette decided to take care of their go bags and their laundry before she went to bed herself, at least that way she could keep an eye on JJ. She gathered their go bags from the car and brought them to the laundry room where she started to divide their laundry and turned on the washing machine before returning to the bedroom upstairs.

JJ was still sleeping and seemingly hadn't moved and inch since Emily had left the room. Emily readied herself and crawled into bed next to JJ, she couldn't help but notice the heat that radiated from the blonde's body. JJ seemed to be resting comfortably however, so she let her sleep.

The next morning however, Emily woke up to the not so pleasant sound of JJ throwing up in the en-suite bathroom. It jump started Emily's reaction, she was out of their bed in seconds and into the bathroom where she found the blonde next to the toilet. She responded quickly by holding her hair back and handing JJ a glass to rinse out her mouth. Emily placed her hand against the younger woman's forehead. "You're burning up, here brush your teeth and then it's back to bed for you." The brunette said in a gentle voice. JJ looked miserable enough and she wouldn't be surprised if the other woman had a pounding headache.

JJ just nodded her head and started to brush her teeth after which she made her way back to the bed under the watchful eye of the profiler. The blonde mumbled something softly which Emily couldn't hear because of the ruffling from the blankets she was placing on top of the blonde and the softness of her voice. "What did you say?"

"I need to get up soon." The blonde mumbled.

"Honey, I'm not telling you what you can or can't do, but I don't think that you should get out of bed any time soon, you're sick."

"Will's expecting me to pick Henry up soon."

"Jayje, don't you think that it's better that Henry sees you when you're feeling better?" Emily asked, it didn't feel right telling JJ what she should or shouldn't do in regards to her son, but she knew that she had to step in if she thought that it was in Henry's best interest. She thought that it was what she needed to do if she wanted to be considered as a caregiver for Henry.

"No, I want to see Henry. After this case ... I just need to." For the first time since they took their seats on the plane JJ actually spoke up and for a moment her usual spark returned.

Emily considered her answer for a couple of seconds before she replied; "Okay, but then I'm going to pick him up and bring him home while you stay in bed." Given the case that they had worked, she always knew that these type of cases where even harder on agents with children. But now that she lived with JJ and Henry she could now truly understand how important it was to come home and wrap your arms around your own child. She had always known that it was a given that Hotch and JJ wanted to go home to hug their sons as soon as they arrived, now that she was living with JJ and Henry she herself was actually feeling the same way.

"I can't let you go, you and Will..."

"Jayje, Will and I have to manage we can be civil, it'll be the first time since we got together that I'm picking Henry up on my own, but if we stay together - which is certainly what I'm planning on – I'm pretty sure that it won't be the last time. We're both adults and I'm sure that we won't say or do anything to each other in front of Henry. I'm sure that we'll be fine, don't worry about it. And if he does get in my face I will just have to show him whose boss." Emily rolled her eyes and grinned at the blonde with a twinkle in her eyes trying to lighten the mood; "When did you tell Will you'd be there?"

"Don't mock me! I'm sick, worried and ... Eleven this morning, he would have Henry ready for me to pick him up." Emily checked the clock on the bedside table and nodded.

"Sorry sweetie, I won't mock you again." Emily said leaning down and kissing the top of JJ's head. "I'm going to take a quick shower, do you want me to get you anything?"

"No ... yes ... sleep but you can't get that for me."

"Okay, then sleep." Emily replied before she retreated to the bathroom. She didn't take long, but by the time she returned to the bedroom JJ was fast asleep. Emily adjusted the blankets around her lover and went downstairs when she was dressed to make herself some breakfast. She still had some time left before she needed to pick Henry up and she decided to go check on JJ one last time.

With a steaming mug of tea in her hand she ascended the stairs to their bedroom. She placed a plate of crackers and tea on the bedside table and wrote a note to JJ telling her that she was on her way to pick Henry up and that she would also go to the store to get groceries and medication. And to call if there was anything she needed. She quietly left the house and locked the door behind her hopping that JJ would be okay for the time that she would be away.

Luckily it didn't take her long to pick Henry up, Will didn't like the fact that JJ was sick but insisted on seeing Henry. Emily had to explain to him the nature of their latest case so that he would understand why it was so important for the blonde to see her son. Given that he was a police officer he could understand how important it was for JJ to see her son. To make sure with her own eyes that he was safe and happy.

Facing the cruelty of mankind - especially directed at kids - would do that to an agent, they needed to hold their kids in their arms to really comprehend that they were safe. His own knowledge as a cop made Emily's argument easier. Soon she was on her way to the pharmacy and the grocery store with Henry in his car seat.

The little boy was talking about his week with his dad; though his stories were at times hard to follow, nevertheless it was nice to hear him talk in an enthusiast tone of voice. She helped him out whenever he didn't know how to say a certain word; sometimes figuring out what he wanted to say was more like a guessing have than anything else. "Where's mommy?" Henry asked after a minute of silence. Emily's stopped the car in front of a traffic light and turned slightly in her seat to give her answer to the little boy.

"Mommy's feeling a bit sick. She wanted to come pick you up but she was really tired so I told her to sleep just like when you were sick a while ago, remember that?" She smiled at him when he nodded before she turned back to see the light turn green. "The two of us are going to the store and get some medicine for mommy to make her all better and then we go home. Does that sounds like a plan?"

"Yes. Good plan." Henry answered with a determined nod of his head, which made the brunette smile because Henry was so much like his mother when he acted so overconfident, way too overconfident for a almost three year old boy.

Emily smiled while she averted her eyes from the rear view mirror. She pulled into the parking lot at the grocery store and retrieved the little boy from the back seat. She placed Henry in the kids seat on the cart and entered the store; she quickly gathered what they needed. It took Emily a while, especially because Henry kept asking for stuff and grasping at items whenever they were within reach. JJ had learned to deal with her son's grabby hands but Emily was struggling, she was not that experienced with it and it took her longer to get the groceries and deal with Henry.

When she was collecting the last items on her list and turned back to the cart to place them inside, the small boy started to squeal 'Unca Derek!' loudly from his seat in the grocery cart. Emily's head snapped up looking around to see if it really was Derek that Henry saw or just someone who looked like him. "Where is uncle Derek?" She asked the little boy. Who happily pointed his hand in the direction of the FBI agent who raised his hand and waved at them with a broad grin.

Emily spun around on her heels and looked guiltily up at Derek, both JJ and Emily knew that Henry might as well be the one who told their secret, especially with him getting more and more talkative by the day. "Hi Derek." She said with a smile when he reached the two of them.

"Well well well, if it isn't my lil' man Henry and Emily." Derek said with a smile while he raised his hand at the small boy; "High five!"

Henry slapped his small hand against the inside of Derek's much larger hand and giggled loudly, it had been a thing between the two of them ever since Henry was old enough to kind of understand what was asked of him.

"Seeing you here with Henry and no JJ in sight means that she's still not feeling well?" Derek asked while he picked Henry up into his strong arms.

Emily nodded; "Yes, she's sick. Probably the flu or a stomach bug or something similar. Henry was with Will but after the case we had she insisted on seeing him, so I picked him up. That plus a nearly empty fridge sent me on my way." Emily told Derek as a way of explaining what happened earlier in the morning.

Derek nodded; "You gonna stay with her all weekend?"

Emily occupied herself with pushing the cart towards the check-out counter before she answered; "Yeah, I think I will, it's hard being sick and having a child to look after and doing it all on your own." Her cheeks turned a deeper shade or red; but right now was not the time nor the place to come clean about their secret.

"It's good to know that JJ has someone looking out for her now that it's just her and my lil' man Henry here." Derek said with a smile.

"Oh, stop it any one of us would have done the same." Emily declined the comment Derek made, knowing that it was true. The line of work had made them more than friends - they all found themselves in a way estranged or too far from their family and had taken each other on as a surrogate family - and they would do a lot more than regular colleagues would. They had to trust each other with their lives, which put them in a unique situation to begin with.

Derek shrugged; "True, but you didn't hesitate you stepped right up to the plate and actually did it."

Emily shrugged and didn't say anything - what could she really say. That moment however, Henry choose to speak his mind; "Mama." He said while he reached out towards Emily. The brunette snapped her head up at him in shock, which she quickly hid behind a blank facade - usually reserved for work - while she reached her hands out to take Henry from Derek. "Mommy's home buddy, we're going there soon, remember I told you she's sick."

"Mama." Henry mumbled against Emily's neck while he laid his head down on her shoulder, resting heavily against her chest.

The brunette placed her hand on his head and gently ruffled his hair; "He must be really tired."

"He must be." Derek said with a smile; "You know what, let me help you with this. Is there anything else you need?"

"No, I was just retrieving the last items when we ran into you."

"Okay then, lets get out of here so you can get Henry to his mommy."

"Thanks." Emily replied with a thankful smile.

Emily led the way to her car in the parking lot with Derek next to her pushing the grocery cart forward. Emily unlocked the car and wanted to place Henry in his car seat when she remembered that she needed to pick up some medication for JJ at the pharmacy. "I need to get some medication for JJ at the pharmacy."

"Okay, go take care of that and I'll put the groceries in your car and bring the cart back and give you your keys at the pharmacy if you're not back when I am done." Derek offered with a genuine smile.

"Thank you."

"Anything for my favourite people." Emily smiled and turned on her heels, she quickly walked towards the pharmacy to buy the medicine JJ needed and to get back home.

Luckily it wasn't busy and it was quickly her turn to pay and she was back on her way to the car when she saw Derek approach with a broad smile on his face. "I was actually kind of surprised to see your car here, I figured that you would have taken JJ's car because of the car seat. Those car seats are not easy to install into another vehicle, I tried it once or twice." Derek said, handing her the keys back.

"Oh .. yeah no, I was with JJ when we were called in on our last case so instead of driving separately, we used my car. Will promised to check out some issue JJ was having with her car for her while we were gone. So the car seat was still in my car." Emily quickly explained, occupying herself with Henry - hoping that Derek wouldn't see through her lies.

"Okay, well I better get going, I was going to do some work on one of the properties. See you on Monday, bye bye big man!" Derek said with a grin while he held his hand up once more for Henry to slap. "Tell Jayje to get well soon." Emily smiled and thanked him once again before saying goodbye to him.

She quickly made her way back to her car and placed Henry in his car seat before she drove the two of them home. She checked her watched when she parked the car, noticing that she had been gone for almost two hours, she hoped that JJ had been alright on her own. She turned around in her seat and addressed the small boy; "Henry sweetie, mommy's sick so we have to be really quiet when we go into the house, she might be sleeping. We can be really silent, right?" For good measure she raised her finger to her lips.

Henry mimicked her and nodded before he whispered back; "Silent."

"Exactly, silent." Emily whispered back before she got out of the car, she took Henry out too. "Stay with me, honey." The brunette told JJ's son before opening the trunk and retrieving the grocery bags from it, they made their way to the house.

She slipped the key into the lock and turned it, Henry ran inside towards the stairs where he waited impatiently for Emily to follow him, jumping from one foot to the other. JJ had taught him that he wasn't allowed to climb the stairs on his own. The brunette placed the grocery bags on the floor and followed the impatient child up the stairs, keeping a close eye on his movements and helping him out when ever he needed a hand.

When they reach the top of the stairs Henry rushes off to the master bedroom tentatively reaching for the doorknob, which is just out of reach for him. The brunette smiled at him and opened the door, Henry pushes his little finger against his lips and raises his head to look up at Emily. "Go ahead." The dark haired woman whispers to the young boy while she pushed the door open.


	36. Chapter 36

**Chapter 36**

Emily pushed the door open and Henry tiptoed inside, his finger still against his lips while he approached the bed, she smiled at his adorable antics. He quickly crawled onto the end of the bed and on hands and knees he made his way towards the top. Emily was sure that JJ was awake but pretending to be fast asleep, knowing that Henry loved being able to wake someone up. "Wakey, wakey!" He said much louder than a whisper, placing his small hands on top of his mother's upper-arm while he pushed her onto her back. JJ pretended to wake up, wrapping her arms around Henry who buried his face in JJ's neck. "You sick, mommy?" He asked her softly.

"Yes sweetie, I am. But I'm feeling a whole lot better now that I got you're here." The blonde smiled and mouthed _'thank you'_ to Emily who was leaning against the doorframe. The brunette could see that the blonde wasn't really doing any better, she was probably still feeling just as miserable as she had been feeling when they first woke up early in the morning. In reply she shrugged at the blonde and approached her, she sat down on the bed leaning in to kiss the top of JJ's head - which felt warm, warmer than usual - but the blonde pushed the other woman away gently. Emily watched JJ with a confused look on her face; she wasn't sure where JJ's reaction came from.

"Are you running a fever?" She asked the blonde who shrugged in reply. "You sure, you feel hot."

Henry was still sprawled out on top of his mother, clutching his little arms around her neck. Emily wanted to reach her hand out to feel if JJ had a fever but the blonde slapped her hand away mid-air. "Don't." She said as sternly as she could muster.

"I just want to know if you have a fever." She sighed; "Can I get you anything? Tylenol, something to drink or eat?"

"Take Henry." Was all JJ could get out, clapping her hand over her mouth. The second Emily picked Henry up JJ pushed herself off the bed in the direction of the bathroom. The brunette could hear her loose what was left of her stomach contents into the toilet and was unsure what to do; stay with Henry or help JJ. In a split second she decided that JJ at this point had her priority; "Henry, stay here. Don't go anywhere while I go an check on mommy, okay?" For a second she wondered if she had closed the gate at the top of the stairs when she came up but there was no time to check it.

Henry nodded his blonde head in an exaggerated gesture and dropped his body back onto the centre of the bed, cradled between the pillows and the fluffy sheets. Emily approached the bathroom door quickly, she checked back one last time to see that Henry was still in the same spot on the bed and opened the door. Within a split second she found herself in the same position she had been in this morning when she first woke up, holding back JJ's long blonde tresses while her free hand reached for the glass on top of the sink. The stale smell of the vomit rose to her nostrils, almost making her gag as well but she turned her face away and breathed through her mouth. She wasn't used to taking care of another person like this, she never had too.

Finally the noises beneath her stopped and she dared to watch, JJ leaned back against the wall and gratefully took the glass the brunette held in front of her, while she reached out to flush the toilet.

"Go away." The words out of JJ's mouth stopped the brunette's hand mid-air, at first she thought that she must have misheard it so she continued to push the flusher, but the blonde repeated it, this time there was no doubt; "Go away, Emily. You did not sign up for this."

"Did not sign up for this? What are you talking about?" She was confused as to what JJ was referring too.

"Me being sick, having to take care of me and Henry. You didn't sign up for this." The blonde looked miserable, extremely miserable. Leaning her head in her hands, her hair hanging in front of her pale face. She looked frail, sitting on the white bathroom tile with hunched shoulders.

"Then tell me, where should I sign up, Jayje?" The brunette was annoyed; "I told you. Promised your parents that I would take care of you and Henry. Do you really think that I will run away from you when you're sick? That I will go to my apartment and come back when you feel better, or maybe not at all because I realise that you and Henry are too much of a hassle? Did you really just assume that I am that shallow?"

JJ opened her mouth to say something - she was feeling quite miserable and seeing the full force of her statement reflect in Emily's dark brown eyes - made her feel even worse. She knew that she had hurt the brunette by doubting her but she couldn't take her words back, the harshness of her own statement was ringing in her ears. With Emily's family history and her experience with previous relationship's JJ should have known how much her comment would hurt Emily. It wasn't that she didn't love her because she did; it was just that she didn't expect her girlfriend to take care of her when she was sick.

She had noticed that Emily almost lost her own stomach contents while helping her and she didn't want the brunette to get sick like she was and maybe, just maybe it had been a stupid idea to ask Emily to pick Henry up for her just because she wanted to see him, no - needed to see him. She now exposed Henry to whatever she was having and she really didn't want to pass it on to anyone else.

When she heard the distinct sound of Emily gagging she remembered all the times she had puked her guts out when she was pregnant with Henry, and all the times that Will turned his back on her and told her that he couldn't deal with the stale smell, even though he had been part of the reason why she was feeling so miserable. He hadn't been helpful at all.

She was afraid to hear the same disgust in Emily's voice, so in her mind it had seemed easier to ask her to go away. But now that she looked up at the woman slumped down on the edge of the tub besides her she doubted her whole thought process. Emily wasn't like that, she would be there to help her if only she would let her help, and even if she didn't want the brunette to stay JJ was sure that she would even if it was just to keep an eye on Henry.

The blonde wanted to say how sorry she was but her train of thought was interrupted by Emily's phone. The dark haired woman jumped, she had been so focussed on JJ that she didn't expect something like that. She quickly retrieved her phone and without looking she answered the call. "Seriously girlfriend, you and I got a huge problem!"

Emily frowned - first JJ and now Pen, she was starting to get annoyed really fast - she pulled the phone away from her ear when the high pitched comment reached her ear; "Get in line..." She mumbled through her teeth, hardly loud enough for anyone to hear. "Pen, what are you raving on about?"

"What am I raving on about? Really Emily, really do I need to explain to you how this works?" Emily stood up from the bed; she left the room and stood in the hallway.

"Pen, what are you talking about?"

"Jayje of course, my poor sweet boo is sick and you don't even call me!"

"P, it's probably just the flu or something, she's looking a whole lot better than she did this morning." Emily said, knowing that it was hardly the truth but she really didn't feel like dealing with Garcia right now, not after being chewed out by JJ for trying to do the right thing.

"I don't care what you call it, even if it is just the flu as you put it I should know about it! Heck, a broken nail is reason to let me know, that is my Jayje you are talking about!" The blonde on the other side of the line exaggerated.

"Broken nails ... right. Sorry Pen, I think I need to change my phone speed-dials because right now I have my lady on number one while it should have been you all along. I apologize; I didn't think that the flu was a good enough reason for you to be called out of your bed. Believe me it won't happen again." Emily spoke in mock congruence while she rolled her eyes, no reason to let Garcia know that JJ and she just got into an argument.

"Do not role your eyes at me, missy!"

Emily pulled the phone away from her ear and stared at it for a couple of seconds before she reattached it, making sure that the camera wasn't working. She had after all seen Garcia pull a lot of technical mumbo jumbo to take control of computers before, so there was no reason to think that she couldn't hack a phone; "Pen, can I just tell you how she's doing?" She said more than a little annoyed.

"You better or I'll come over there and see for myself." The blonde claimed loudly and Emily knew not to mess with her because she would do it - she would stand at their door within twenty minutes, which was exactly how long it took from Garcia's apartment to their house if there wasn't any traffic, and that was something Emily really couldn't use.

"Alright alright, hold your horses. Jayje's doing fine, well not fine but better. She probably caught the flu or something but she slept most of the night and morning." Emily frowned; "I went to pick Henry up and I just arrived home with him. Which you probably already heard from your chocolate hunk."

"I never reveal my sources." Garcia said in a serious tone of voice.

"Maybe you shouldn't make it so obvious if you don't want a trained FBI agent to figure out the truth." Emily joked lightly, loosing a little of the anger she had been feeling because of JJ's comment.

"I don't know what you mean." The blonde stated on the other side of the line.

"We didn't see you last night, nor did we call you. About thirty minutes ago I left the parking lot of the supermarket where I ran into Derek, and now with just enough time to get home you call me. It's a simple game of elimination, if you had known before you would have called sooner. You didn't call the land-line because you didn't want to risk waking JJ up, neither did you want to call me on my cell if there was a chance that I was still on my way home with your Godson in the car." Emily smirked; "In fact if I had picked up the phone you would have ripped my head off for reckless endangerment or something since Henry was in the car with me. They didn't just give me the title of 'profiler' because they like me so much."

"Okay, I guess I'm busted." The blonde giggled; "Is my poor Jayje awake, can I talk to her?" Emily looked around the doorframe and noticed that JJ was still in the bathroom since the bedroom was empty. She made her way across the room and glanced around the corner. Henry had crawled onto his mother's lap who was still seated on the floor with her back against the cold tile. She wasn't able to see the younger woman's face because her long blonde hair was blocking it from the view. But every now and then Emily noticed that her shoulders shook.

"Can I let her call you back, P?" The brunette spoke fast but urgently.

"Yeah, I guess, tell my little Sugar Plum to call me asap."

"Sure will, P." Emily said while disconnecting the phone.

Emily watched JJ from the bedroom, the younger woman hadn't moved from her position against the cold bathroom tile. Henry had made his way to her and crawled up against her, his arms wrapped around his mommy. The blonde stroked the young boys hair absentmindedly while she tried to hide from him that she was crying. However, she wasn't able to keep a pained sob from escaping her lips every now and then, and each time Emily's heart broke a little bit more.

Maybe she was doing the wrong thing but she knew that she had to do something. She at least had to try and get JJ from the cold bathroom tile and back into bed with a couple of Tylenol preferably, even if the blonde didn't want her here or claimed that she hadn't signed up for this she wasn't going to leave. There was no way she could ever justify doing something like that to herself. She stepped forward with a fake smile on her face; "Henry, sweetie it's nap time."

"No, don't wanna!" Henry exclaimed loudly.

"Well you have to, honey." Emily insisted while she picked him up and carried him to his room. JJ pulled her knees up to her chest; her face was still hidden behind a curtain of blond tresses.

"No, Em'ly don't wanna! Mama!" Emily made quick work of undressing the small child and placing him in his crib.

"Just for a little while sweetie, you can see mommy when you wake up, okay." The boy sniffled but nodded. Emily kissed him on his forehead and made her way over to the door, she looked back at him and he stubbornly sat up in his bed, his little arms crossed in front of his chest. The brunette had a hard time closing the door on him but she knew that she had other matters she needed to take care off. She almost reluctantly made her way back to the master bedroom and sighed when she noticed that JJ still hadn't moved from her spot on the floor in the bathroom.

Emily approached JJ; she leaned down and helped the blonde back up on her feet. The blonde broke down; Emily wrapped her arms around her and mumbled soothing words to her. "I'm sorry, Em. I am so sorry, please don't leave."

"I'm not leaving. But you got some explaining to do, I never figured you to be so insecure. I thought that I had been clear about my intentions." The brunette said while she guided the younger woman back to the bed. She made sure that JJ was comfortable before she returned to the bathroom and cleaned up the paper towels that where on the floor and rinsed out the glass and the sink. She opened the window to make sure that the stale smell of vomit could leave the small room and returned to the bedroom. The second she set foot in the room JJ tried to get up, she rushed to her side and sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Emily, I am sorry, so sorry." The brunette smiled weakly and brushed her hand along JJ's face.

"I know. It's okay." She replied softly, she stared straight ahead she didn't want JJ to see the pain in her eyes.

"No it's not. I hurt you." JJ's own tears had dried but the tear streaks where still visible on her face. For a split seconds Emily let her eyes glide towards her face and she noticed that JJ's blue orbs where filled with the same pain and humiliation to boot. She wanted to turn away, she couldn't look at her; she knew that she was not to blame for what happened but it was too difficult to look at JJ right now. The self-doubt was excruciating. But the media liaison was fast, she reached her hand out and stopped Emily from turning her head away. The brunette focussed on a point above JJ's head, it was easier to compartmentalize when she focussed on a blank point instead of a face filled with emotion.

"Look at me." The blonde begged.

"I am." She replied softly.

"No, you're not. Dammit Emily, look at me!" She sighed and changed her line of sight to the blonde's face. "I am sorry, I was out of line, I should have never said the things I said to you because you are right, there is no reason for me to believe that you will walk out on me the first time something doesn't go as planned. I never should have compared you to Will because you're not like him."

"No, I'm not..." Emily felt drained, so much had happened in a short amount of time.

JJ sighed; she wrapped her arm around Emily's shoulders and eased them down on the bed. She spooned Emily and wrapped her arm around her, her face buried against Emily's neck; "I am sorry. Will was an ass when I was sick during my pregnancy; he told me that he couldn't deal with someone who was sick. When I heard that you gagged, I ... I made my own conclusions and told you to leave out of self-preservation."

Emily didn't say anything, but she took a hold of JJ's hand and held it close to her heart. She could understand JJ's reasoning now, but every time she learned a new detail about Will she liked him less and less. If you loved someone wouldn't you do anything for them? Wasn't that what love meant?

"I don't walk away just because you're sick."

"I know that ... can we please call it a lapse of judgment."

"Yeah, let's call it that." Emily replied softly, a relieved sigh sounded in her ear a smile appeared on her face. She pushed herself up on her elbow, JJ immediately wanted to pull her back down; "I'm not going anywhere, let me just get rid of my shoes." The brunette explained with a chuckle; while she reached down to unzip the boots she was wearing. She carelessly dropped them next to the bed and reached back to pull the blanket over them while she eased back into JJ's embrace.

They where both exhausted and it didn't take long before sleep took over. It wasn't until Henry crawled into the bed with them and snuggled against Emily that she woke up, only to find that they had all been asleep for two hours. She made a mental note of the fact that Henry once again had managed to climb over the railing of his crib. JJ stirred behind her and rolled onto her back. "You awake?" She mumbled softly while she covered her eyes with her arm.

"Yes, Henry climbed over the railing again." Emily sighed while she tickled the small child who shrieked before he started giggling in that very infectious way only children can chuckle.

"I know, we should get him a real big boys bed soon."

"Are you feeling any better?"

"Yes, I am feeling better." The blonde lifted her arm a little bit, just enough so that she was able to look at the other woman who had turned towards her. She smirked when she noticed that her son had crawled on top of Emily looking back at her with a huge accomplished grin. "What do you think sweetie, should we get you a real big boy's bed?"

"Yeah! I'm a big boy I'm three!" He answered happily while he held up four fingers. Emily and JJ laughed while the brunette corrected the number of fingers and Henry reached out his arm towards his mother for good measure to show her how old he was.

"Well yes, three fingers. You are a big boy." JJ replied happily. Emily knew that she was faking it - it was what mother's did.

"Is it okay if I take a quick shower? I'll make something light to eat, we'll see if you can handle it." Emily asked JJ, pushing a strand of hair out of the blonde's face.

"Yeah sure. How about we go downstairs to watch a movie, sweetie?" The blonde asked Henry. He jumped up and was already on his way out of the room when JJ called him back. "Henry, get back here. You know you can't go downstairs alone." Henry sulked and came back to the bed, leaning his arms on the bed and cradled his head in his hands while he watched JJ and Emily move through the room. The blonde pulled her robe on while the brunette grabbed a change of clothes and a towel.

"Jayje, you might want to call PG back before she comes knocking down the door. She was pretty pissed that I hadn't informed her that you where sick." Emily said before she closed the door to the bathroom behind her.

JJ picked up her phone and told Henry that she was ready to go. The little boy actually sighed in relief when he pushed himself off the bed. The blonde rolled her eyes while she unlocked the gate at the top of the stairs and patiently waited while Henry sat down at the top of the stairs and took the stairs one after another sliding down on his butt.

JJ prepared a sippy cup for Henry and placed the DVD in the player before she sat down and dialled Garcia's speed dial number. The phone was picked up in a matter of seconds as if the technical analyst had been waiting for her call. "JJ! Thank God! I swear if you hadn't called me I would have come over. I swear I told Em I would! I told her that she should tell you to call me as soon as possible ..."

"PG!" JJ had tried to get a word in a couple of times but she couldn't so she just sat by and waited for the rant to end. When Garcia finally stopped talking she attempted to explain why she hadn't called sooner; "PG, I am sure that Emily would have told me to call you sooner ..." But she wasn't able to finish her sentence before the tech started rambling again.

"What do you mean would have called sooner, do you mean that Em didn't tell you that I asked her specifically to tell my sweet boo to call me ASAP! I told her! I knew I should have come by, I should have just gotten into Esther and drive over there."

"P! It's not Emily's fault. It's mine ..."

"Jayje, sweetie pie what's the matter?" Henry was sitting on the couch completely engrossed in the movie that was playing on the screen. The blonde rubbed her forehead - a headache was throbbing behind her eyes - she got op and walked into the kitchen where she sat at the counter from where she could keep an eye on Henry.

"I said something stupid, Pen. Real stupid."

"But you are alright aren't you, and Emily is too, right Jayje?" Garcia was silent for a couple of seconds waiting to hear what JJ had to say but when she didn't say anything she urged the blonde a little more; "Jayje, you two are alright, aren't you?"

"Yes, yes we are ... now." JJ replied barely above a whisper.

"For God sake, Jayje could you be any more vague please!" The tech analyst exclaimed in a high-pitched voice.

"We are okay. I just made a really bad judgment call this morning. It was stupid, we talked about it. We are fine, but I can't get the hurt look in her eyes out of my head."

"Jayje, Emily loves you. I have never seen her the way she is with you. Don't doubt her." The tech analyst spoke seriously.

"I know, Pen! I just snapped at her and I was so out of line ..."

"You want to tell me what happened?"

The blonde sighed - she rested her head in the palm of her hands, her fingers entangled in her long blonde tresses - she wasn't sure where to start, so the beginning would be as good as anywhere; "I woke up this morning feeling really nauseous, so I got out of bed and went into the bathroom. Emily must have heard me because she was behind me within seconds - holding back my hair, giving me a wet towel and water. She was perfect. Will and I had agreed that I would pick Henry up early in the morning, Emily offered to do it for me even though the two of them don't really see eye to eye. She also offered to take Henry with her to the store to give me some time to allow the medication to work and to get some more sleep. I was still exhausted. Like I said she was perfect."

"Okay, so far so good. She's an angel. I always knew that she was special, a real catch. I never understood why she was single."

"P! Make me feel even worse, why don't you?"

"Okay, sorry. Go ahead, because so far I have not heard anything horrible from your side."

"Right, so Emily came back with Henry. I had just woken up and I was so happy to see him but the second I moved my stomach turned and I ran off to the bathroom again. Emily made sure that Henry stayed where he was before she came after me. The same thing as before happened, but Emily gagged and turned away from me. You know how I told you about _his_ reaction."

JJ said checking if Henry was still engrossed in his movie - Will and she had agreed to never bad mouth the other in front of Henry - before she continued; "How he told me to never bother him when I was struggling with my morning sickness or whenever Henry or I were sick. How he couldn't handle sick people. At that moment when I heard Emily behind me saw her turn away I just flashed back to that moment. I promised myself to never allow someone to treat me like that and I snapped. I told her to go. Literally told her to leave me. I told her that she didn't sign up for this."

"Jay, what do you even mean by that, didn't sign up for it? She's being this awesome person and you tell her to go. Anyone would be hurt by that!"

"I don't even know what I meant by it!" JJ looked down at her hand. "I guess that for a moment I just wasn't thinking straight ..."

"Honey, from where I am standing you haven't been thinking straight for a while now." The technical analyst chuckled loudly from the other side of the line.

Despite the way she was feeling she had to laugh at Garcia's comment. "True. But P how can I fix this. I mean really fix it."

"You just take care of yourself and let her take care of you and Henry, and when you're better I will babysit Henry and you can show your lady some good lovin' and I am sure that she will forgive you. Let's be honest here. all you really have to do is look at her with those blue orbs of yours and she is putty in your hand." Garcia babbled on, JJ was too emerged in the phone call to notice anything besides the patterns on the counter top blurred by the tears in her eyes and Garcia's voice in her ear. That was until a pair of strong arms wrapped around her from behind, she could feel the brunette's breath tickle her ear and waited for the words to come, breathlessly.

"You have nothing to fix, we're fine." The brunette said loud enough for JJ to hear but not for Garcia. JJ turned towards Emily and smiled weakly, the brunette wiped away a stray tear that ran down her cheek. She reached for the phone and took it from JJ; "PG? I don't know what JJ told you but we are fine, more than fine. I will take care of her and you will see us on Monday at work all bright and shiny."

"Em'ly you better make sure that's right or you'll have to deal with me!"

"Yeah, yeah. Talk to you later PG!". Emily answered completely unimpressed with the Tech Analysts threat before she disconnected the call. "Jayje, don't worry. Relax, watch the movie with Henry and I will make something to eat."

JJ got up from the stool, she reached out her hand and touched Emily's cheek lightly; "Why are you so perfect?"

"Ohhh, I'm not. But just for future reference remember this moment when I'm having one of my less than perfect moods." The profiler answered with a chuckle. Before she turned to the counter and opened the fridge to see what she could prepare for a late lunch only to remember that she left the groceries in the hallway when she came home with Henry - who was eager to see his mom. She retrieved the groceries and started placing the items in the cabinets and fridge before she made a jelly sandwich for Henry - cut up in little squares and brought it to him in the living room. The little boy sat down on his knees in front of the table and dug into his sandwich.

Emily returned a couple of minutes later with two plates handing one to JJ before she sat down herself and started munching on the toast she made. The rest of the weekend was spent comfortable in their house. Either lounging on the couch watching a movie, or in bed. JJ was gradually feeling better, and by the time Sunday night came around she was determined to go to work come Monday morning.

Whatever it was that JJ suffered from, neither Emily nor Henry caught it. The weekend at home being pampered by Emily and Henry had done wonders. But by Garcia's reaction upon the healthy return of JJ you would have thought that she had faced death on her weekend off. That was at least what the reaction of their whirlwind known as Penelope Garcia ran into the BAU bullpen and wrapped her arms around the frail blonde in a bone-crushing hug.

"So did Emily stay with you all weekend?" Morgan asked from his position perched on the edge of Reid's desk - with a little bit more interest than he usually would have - with a smirk on his face.

"Yes, she did." JJ smiled; "Emily refused to leave while I was sick, especially since I had Henry with me."

"It's not like I had anywhere else I needed to be." The brunette answered with a shrug.

"Good thing you where available for _all_ of JJ's needs." Morgan answered with an even bigger smirk.

It took a few minutes and a glare from Hotch to finally calm down all the commotion in their bullpen. Everyone returned to their desks and pulled the first file from their respective piles to start processing the paperwork.

_**R&R please, let me know what you think!**_


	37. Chapter 37

**AN: So weird writing Christmas related chapters in September and October!Thanks to my awesome proofreader!  
**

**Chapter 37**

Emily arrived at the house an hour later than JJ; she closed the door and made her way to the kitchen where she could hear JJ rummaging. She slumped down in one of the stools at the breakfast bar and watched JJ while she prepared an easy meal of mac and cheese for the three of them - JJ's specialty as they mockingly called it. The blonde wasn't bad either, but her meals where usually rather simple and easy to make, compared to Emily's meals with origins from all around the world.

"Hi sweetie." The blonde who had previously been singing to the radio said with a smile, her back still to the brunette while she stirred in the kettle on the stove. She was unaware of the brunette's demeanour, though that wouldn't last long.

"We need to talk." Emily said followed by a loud sigh, without greeting the other woman while she threw her mail on the counter top. She had gone to her apartment after work before driving to the house and picked up her mail.

JJ turned around; a drop of tomato sauce fell off the wooden spoon she was clutching in her hand. "That sounds serious. Should I be worried?"

"Depends..." Emily's voice trailed away, her hands pushed a card over the counter top towards the blonde. JJ placed the spoon back on the counter and wiped her hands on a towel, she hesitantly moved forward. Her hand hovered over the card, she watched Emily and when she nodded she finally picked it up.

She opened it up and allowed her eyes to fly over the words written on the inside of the card. "It's an invitation to a Charity Event on Christmas eve?" The blonde spoke softly before she looked up at the brunette, who nodded in reply.

"My mother's way of telling me she will be in town." She admitted with a weak smile, before she studied her own hands.

"It's on Christmas Eve." JJ repeated softly.

"I know." JJ turned towards the stove and picked up the pot to put it aside to make sure that the food wouldn't spoil. She had been afraid that this would happen, she was aware that Emily still hadn't called her parents and told them about their relationship or their living arrangements.

Besides that, Emily and JJ had already promised JJ's parents that they would spend Christmas with them starting on Christmas Eve. The BAU team would be taken out of rotation for the holidays, which meant that they had December 24th off - they had planned to drive towards East Allegheny and arrive early in the afternoon. However, if Emily wanted to see her parents those plans would have to be changed one way or another.

JJ watched Emily's reaction intensely while she leaned against the breakfast bar; "What does this mean? Do you want to go?"

Emily picked up the card and held it up; "I'm not sure. If you get this in your mail you might call it an invitation, but it isn't. This is my mother summoning me to show up on Christmas Eve at her Charity Event to play the _'good daughter'_."

The brunette made air-quotes and rolled her eyes; "Preferably one that she can be _proud_ of and show off to her rich friends, one with a male boyfriend preferably who could be a potential husband one day." She threw the card down again and sighed heavily.

"I hate it. I should have expected it and taken care of it before this arrived in the mail. I'm sorry. Usually I don't give a damn about it and I play my mother's games, if I don't have a date she'll make sure that someone is there to court me. Not that it ever works but she denies the fact that I like women. It has been twenty years since I first told her and she still calls it a phase and claims that I will grow out of it. I wonder how long she's going to claim that."

"Emily, maybe if you confront your mother with the fact that you're in a relationship - if she sees how happy you are, that might change a couple of things." JJ offered watching Emily intently, she had always known that the brunette and her mother didn't see eye to eye on a lot of things but this was the most elaborated explanation she ever got on how their relationship worked.

She was at a loss for words, how could she reply when her heart clenched in pain for Emily but she herself had never even had to deal with anything like that. Not from her parents - sure she had been worried to tell them about her relationship with Emily, though she had doubts deep, deep in her heart she had also known that her parents would always love her even though there was the possibility that it might have taken them a little time to wrap their head around the news.

Nevertheless, her fear had been deemed unnecessary. Her parents had seen how happy she was, how happy Emily made her and how good the brunette was with Henry. Maybe it would work for Emily and her mother in the same way, or maybe that was really wishful thinking ... "I'm sorry, Emily. Maybe ... I don't know what to say."

"Don't be, it's not your fault. It's just the way it is. Which means that I have to call my mother to explain a couple of things to her, _again_." The brunette sighed; "However, I don't know what to do. I've promised your parents that we would be in East Alleghany on Christmas Eve and I want to keep that promise, but now my mother comes and ruins it because she suddenly remembered that she has a daughter."

"Em, I'm sure that if we explain it to my parents they will understand. And we can always drive home after the Charity Event or the next morning and we can still be on time. It's not a big deal." JJ shrugged it off lightly, Emily was already feeling bad enough, no need to add to her stress now.

"I don't want to disappoint your parents, they have been so sweet and caring."

"Em, she's your mother. You need to talk to her and please don't worry about my parents, we'll cross that bridge if we have to, and like I said I'm sure that they will understand." The blonde smiled and moved closer to Emily. She wrapped her arms around the brunette's neck while she leaned back to look her in the eyes.

"I know." She rubbed her eyes in frustration; "Believe me, I know. And I will. No matter what happens though, if she doesn't accept you than I'm not going to that Charity Event either. These past years I didn't really care if she tried to introduced me to DC's most eligible bachelors, but now it would feel as if I where cheating on you if I went there because I know that she will still try to hook me up with someone. That's just the way it is."

"Honey, I don't want to be the person who causes a rift between you and your mother."

The profiler chuckled bitterly; "Don't worry about that, there is already a rift the size of the Grand Canyon between us. It's more of a courtesy that I'm considering calling her than anything else."

"Em, that sounds really harsh."

"It's the truth." Emily sighed; "Since we worked that case with the Russian's, when my mother was here, I saw her three times and spoke to her on the phone probably just as many times. She turned to us knowing that I wouldn't show her the door, she used me as leverage to get the BAU to do what she wanted us to do. That's my mother for you, Strauss reminds me of her a lot. When we worked that case she asked me if I wanted to have lunch with her the very next day but before we could she called to cancel. She's been in and out of the country, but most of the time she has been here I've picked up about it through the paper or through people who know her."

The brunette sighed deeply, thinking whether or not she should tell JJ one of her biggest and probably best kept secrets or not - honesty was the best policy. "Whenever my mother calls to make an appointment only to cancel on me before we even get there ... I ... she…she makes me feel like I'm six years old again fighting for her attention and never getting it. Always waiting for my mother to come home and when she did she told the nanny that she was having a headache or she was on her way out again."

"Oh Em." JJ wrapped her arms around the brunette. "Why have you never told me this before?"

The brunette shrugged, a tear rolled down her cheek; "It's too painful. We, in our line of work, see it all the time. People get seriously screwed up by the way their parents treat them. I can't talk about this ... not with just anyone." The brunette admitted with a small smile.

"Good, because you should know that you can tell me anything." The blonde replied, brushing a strand of hair away from the brunette's face stroking her thumb along her jawline.

"Hmm, yes I'm still working on it."

JJ pulled away from the brunette and smiled; "Well as long as we agree to keep working on our relationship and especially in sharing the tougher stuff we'll be fine." The blonde kissed the profiler gently before she pulled away and made her way around the breakfast counter. "How about you make that phone call to your mother to make an appointment with her while I finish this meal?"

Emily shrugged, but she did take her phone with her the livingroom, she waited for the line to connect to her mother's number. She nervously picked her nails when her mother's voice rang in her ears; "Elizabeth Prentiss."

"Mother, it's Emily."

"Emily, I only have one daughter, the fact that you called me mother gave away that it was you. I take it you received my invitation?"

"I did, listen can we possibly meet tomorrow for lunch? There's something I need to tell you and I don't want to do it over the phone." The profiler spoke softly.

"I take it you still work for the FBI?" The older Prentiss woman asked her daughter.

"Yes, I am still at the BAU? Why?"

"Just a question. I will see you at noon, were do you want to meet? You know what, just send me the address on my phone? I have to go, your dad's waiting." Elizabeth replied.

"Okay, say hi to dad from me and can you ask him to come with you tomorrow?"

"I don't know Emily, I believe your father has a golf game planned with one of his friends. I will ask him. I really have to go now." The older Prentiss' woman replied quickly; "See you tomorrow, Emily."

"See you tomorrow." She disconnected the call and sat staring straight ahead for a while. Her hand drifted distractedly to her long raven hair, her hands caressing the long tresses. She wondered what tomorrow would be like. She must have been sitting there for a while though, which she didn't realise it until JJ suddenly appeared next to her and placed a hand on her shoulder which startled her.

"Emily honey, are you okay? I called your name a couple of times but you didn't seem to hear me."

"Yes, I'm fine. I was just trying to figure out how to tell my mother about us." The brunette answered softly; "My dad was with her, I asked her to invite him as well."

JJ was surprised, Emily had never talked about her father, she had assumed that the brunette had no contact with him, didn't know her father or she had lost him years ago. She had figured that Emily didn't talk about her father just like she herself didn't talk about Amy. "Would you like it if I came with you, or is this something you need to do alone?" She offered while she sat down next to the profiler, she wrapped her hands around Emily's - a simple but comforting gesture.

"I don't want you to be there, it's probably going to be painful and ..."

"Em, we're in this together. I know it'll be difficult but if you're hurting I can't look the other way, so I might as well go with you."

"Jayje, you don't know my mother ... I mean, you've seen her once when she was on her best behavior. She needed us, my connection within the FBI, our team. What you saw was Ambassador Prentiss, not my mother. In a way you and her are a lot alike ..." JJ opened her mouth to interrupt Emily telling her that she was nothing like Elizabeth Prentiss.

"No, Jayje listen to me. You're a media liaison, you know how to handle yourself in all types of situations. I have seen you play your intelligence down to make some of the cops we work with feel comfortable sharing information with you they wouldn't have shared with us otherwise. My mother's years as an ambassador have given her similar skills, she knows how to play people, use them as her pawns and get you to do what she wants you to do. To be honest my mother would make a good profiler. Tomorrow I'm having lunch with her, we'll be in a public place she won't want to make a scene. She'll be polite and will most likely deny who you are or what you mean to me. She will refuse to call you anything but Miss or Agent Jareau, that way she can keep distance because in her mind you will be the person who put me up to this and it won't matter what I tell her."

"So what you're telling me is that it won't be pretty ... but Em, we're in this together. You went with me all the way to East Allegheny, not knowing what to expect, I think that I will be fine spending an uncomfortable hour with your mother during lunch. And like you said before, I'm a media liaison, I know how to handle myself." The blonde couldn't help but smirk at getting Emily back with her own words.

"Looks like I can't stop you."

"No, no you can't." The blonde answered with a smirk. "Now, can we eat?"

"Yes, we can. Where's Henry?"

"He was totally worn out when I picked him up at the daycare, by the time I left the parking lot her was already sleeping so I took him upstairs before I started dinner."

"Can I go and get him?"

"Of course you can, I'd better start reheating everything. Again." She claimed with a mock sigh, she planted a quick kiss on Emily's lips before she pushed herself up and retreated to the kitchen. Emily made her way upstairs, she quickly disappeared into their bedroom and retrieved a shirt from the closet. She unbuttoned her blouse and dropped it to the bed. She pulled the shirt over her head and made her way to Henry's room.

Emily had been dreading the approaching lunch hour all day, it had been hard to concentrate on anything but the clock on the opposite wall. JJ had tried to get her mind off the upcoming lunch date, even Garcia - who had been clued in by JJ - had tried but nothing had worked. The lunch hour came and Emily got up - thanks to her fidgeting everyone knew that she was meeting her mother for lunch - she grabbed her bag and strode towards the double glass doors.

"Hey Em! Have fun with the Ambassador!" Morgan teased right when she was pushing the door open. The brunette huffed and let the door close behind her, she knew that he was just teasing her and let it go. This time.

JJ followed a minute later calling out that she needed to run some errands on their lunch break and left in a swirl of golden hair, almost running after Emily. When she exited the elevator on the parking level she thought for a second that Emily had already left - if she had, she would have done it to protect JJ but it would have hurt the blonde tremendously. She had been mistaken because Emily's Jaguar pulled around the corner and stopped in front of her. She breathed a sigh of relief and stepped into the car. She scanned the area surrounding them and leaned over the center console to give Emily a quick peck on her cheek. The brunette smiled and drove off, they reached their destination quickly.

JJ quickly grabbed a hold of Emily's hand before the reached the door of the establishment; "Emily, I'm here for you and I love you. We'll be fine no matter what happens today."

"I know, I love you too." The brunette decleared before she pushed the door open and released JJ's hand. She immediately noticed her parents, her mother's impeccable straight posture sitting in one of the chairs to the back of the establishment, her father was seated besides her. She guided JJ to the table and stopped besides her mother. "Mother, it's good to see you. I think you remember Jennifer Jareau." Elizabeth Prentiss got up, a tiny but strict smile playing on her lips.

"Emily dear, it's good to see you." She gave Emily three air kisses before turning her attention to JJ, who she gave a hand; "Of course I remember Special Agent Jareau, though I'm not sure why you brought her with you Emily, you could have informed me."

Emily ignored her mother while she turned towards her father, who had quickly followed his wife, he was a little taller than Emily with broad shoulders and a friendly face. The brunette was immediately enveloped in a heart warming hug courtesy of her father. She stepped away from her father's embrace; "Dad, this is Jennifer Jareau. JJ this is my dad, John Edward Prentiss."

The older man held his hand out to JJ; "Please, call me Edward, it's nice to meet you."

Emily watched JJ and her father introduce themselves to each other but she was annoyed by her mother and was tempted to role her eyes, that was her mother always cutting right to the chase. "Can we sit down and order something first."

She knew that her mother was probably already sensing where this conversation was going, she could see it in the change of demeanor in her. She suddenly seemed even more closed up than usual, a simple hand gesture towards the other chairs at the table.

Emily and JJ sat down and in a matter of seconds a waiter arrived at their table with the menu's in his hand. One of the perks of having dinner with her mother was that she would always make reservations as 'Ambassador Prentiss', which meant that people would always fly for them. After all, having a recommendation from a high placed Ambassador would be good publicity.

They ordered and when the waiter left Emily turned her attention to her mother; "I received your invitation to the Christmas Eve Charity, I know that you want me to bring a date. I wanted you to meet who I'm bringing, that's why I brought JJ with me." She waited to see if her mother caught on to what she was saying.

"Emily, please not this nonsense again." Elizabeth exclaimed in such a fashion that it could only be heard by the occupants of their table, but nonetheless it was obvious that she was irritated to say the least.

"Mother, please it's not nonsense, you know that just as well as I do." The brunette sighed, she hated always having the same argument with her mother whenever the topic of relationships was brought up.

"Emily dear, it _is_ nonsense. You told me years ago that you had feelings for women, but I have never seen any proof of it."

"Seriously mother, proof?" The profiler asked wondering if her mother was serious about not believing it because she'd never seen proof. "You've never seen your so-called proof because there was never anyone in my life who was important enough to bring home - until now. Besides that, with the way you react to this topic it isn't really a topic to address if it's not nescesary." She said reaching for JJ's hand, she entangled their fingers and turned JJ's hand towards her she leaned in and placed a kiss on JJ's hand.

"I love Jayje, I really do. There have been other women - sorry sweetie for bringing this up now." Emily apologized to the blonde, the last part of the sentence softly, she realized that they had never really talked about past relationships or lovers in detail, and she didn't want to hurt JJ by revealing anything unexpected. The blonde nodded and flashed an understanding smile.

"There have been several women, but no one nearly as important as JJ and Henry. He's JJ's son, the cutest little kid you'll ever meet." Emily smiled broadly while she watched JJ's proud smile appear on her face, the blonde mouthed thank you. The bruette nodded before she turned her attention to her mother since she was the main source of the problem; "There was no one I wanted to spend my life with, but everything changed now. I don't want to hide this any longer. And before you say it, a _phase_ doesn't last twenty years, mother."

At that moment the waitress returned with their lunch, the conversation halted, her eyes quickly shifted from one person to the next before she rapidly placed the plates in front of them and spun on her heels to get out of their way. An Ambassador and FBI agents sure knew how to make sure that no one dared to disturb them unless they where asked something.

Elizabeth watched her daughter for a second while she waited long enough for the waitress to be out of earshot before she started speaking; "But Emily ..." Her mother tried to reason with her - even though she was a grown up and perfectly capable to make her own choices.

"There are no reasons to keep this hidden or to act like it doesn't exist. You can either try to accept this - given that you've known about it for twenty years, I would say that you've had more than enough time - or this will most likely be the last time we see each other.''

"If this is the way you are why did you always show up at my Christmas Eve Charity with a guy on your arm?" The older Prentiss woman asked wondering why her daughter had chosen to do that, her eyes shifted between her Emily and JJ.

"Elizabeth, please..." Emily's father interupted his wife for the first time. He hated that she and his daughter could never see eye to eye, he loved them both and he was always caught in the middle.

"Edward, hush." Elizabeth said softly.

"Don't tell me to hush, don't you hear what your daughter is saying?" Edward Prentiss turned towards his daughter; "This is important."

"Edward, I know what is important. Why should our daughter make her life even more difficult? Everything she does is like a kick in the stomach, she always chooses the hard way."

"Our daughter is a grown-up, she can make her own choices as long as her choices make her happy, that is all I'm asking for. How can you not see that she's happier than we've seen her in a long time. Did you not see the look in her eyes when she told you that no one is as important as JJ and her son." Edward smiled at his daughter and her girlfriend.

"Because there was no one special in my life, I figured that it was easier to go along with your wishes the one time a year I see you instead of fighting against it." Emily hated admitting it, she thought that her way of reasoning was quite hypocritical, she wanted to be accepted, yet in the past decade she had never really tried to fight for the acceptance she needed so dearly. She hated admitting that she wanted - no _needed_ - her mother in her life as much as she claimed to not need her.

"Honey, I have always thought that this was just another one of your rebellious actions against me. Can you blame me, Emily? If it wasn't a crazy hairdo, black make-up and that God awful music it was wrong friends, going out late at night while you were grounded, and if it wasn't one of those you would find something else to rebel against.

Like that time you told me that you were pregnant at fifteen. Do you even know what that could have done to my career? I always thought that this was just another nail on my proverbial political coffin when you announced that you were gay. I was the Ambassador of a country known for their bigotry, a country where gay people are threatened and every so often even killed and you tell me that you're gay. What am I supposed to think, Emily? I've never seen any evidence of your pregnancy just like I've never seen proof of you being a lesbian."

"Proof mother, you needed proof? I had an abortion when I was fifteen because you told me long before I actually _got_ pregnant that I wouldn't have a home if I ever got knocked up. So when it happened, Matthew - who wasn't even the father - took me to a doctor. And when I tried to tell you why I was so depressed you wouldn't believe me, because there wasn't any proof. Matthew saved my life mother, and that was the start of his own downfall. That is something I have to live with all my life since I couldn't do the same thing for him."

Emily sighed deeply - thinking about Matthew always made her sad - she fought to keep her tears hidden. She hated that she hadn't been able to help him the way he had been there to help her. She sighed deeply and looked down at her hands, trying to control her emotions. A quick glance to her side showed a very calm JJ, if she had been surprised by the revelations made by Emily herself or her mother, she didn't show it. Though that didn't sooth Emily's feelings, JJ might as well be hiding her true feelings behind her 'media liaison's face'.

After all JJ was exceptionally good at her job and if she didn't want to show her true feelings she wouldn't show them to you, it worried Emily but there was no time to deal with this right now. "Do you really think that it would have been easier to understand if you caught me in bed with some women? You basically told me to drop the act, you told me that I was on my own which was followed by another rant about me doing everything in my power to ruin your precious career."

"Emily you make it sound like my career was more important than you."

"You made me feel like it was ..." The brunette sighed, they had never talked about any of this. Sure, when she was still living at home she would throw it at her mother when they where at each other's throats but they never sat down and really talked about it.

"I was brought up by nannies, while we lived all around the world for _your_ postings. The longest we ever stayed anywhere was two years. Every time I had to make new friends, learn new languages and try to find my way in new cities. It was difficult and I made my fair share of mistakes trying to fit in, but I never lied about the things that happened. But that is not the problem here." Emily waved it away, it wasn't important. "If I come, I mean if _we_ decide to come and make the changes to our plans with JJ's parents, I need to know that you can accept us as a couple."

JJ's smiled at Emily, her hand squeezed the brunette's in a soothing, comforting gesture. It gave Emily the strength to look straight at her mother.

"Emily, I want you to be there ..." Her mother paused, she always had a flair for drama when she spoke, she pursed her lips before she continued; "If that means that Agent Jareau will be with you that is fine by me ... but keep in mind that this is something I have to adjust to and that doesn't happen overnight. I want you to be there."

"Please, Mrs. Prentiss, call me Jennifer or Jayje." JJ spoke up for the first time since she had been introduced.

The older Prentiss woman nodded; "Jennifer, I would like it if you could accompany my daughter to the charity event." The words sounded and the smile didn't quite reach her eyes but it was a start.

"Jennifer, what my wife is trying to say is that you're welcome to join our daughter to our Charity Event and that it is a true pleasure to meet you." Edward spoke with a genuine smile, in between words he glared at his wife.

"I'm proud of you." JJ murmured when she laid down in the bed next to Emily.

The brunette looked up, confusion on her face; "Why?"

"You stood up to your mother and you made her see what you want and you didn't back down. I can only guess how difficult that must have been. So I am proud of you."

"I'm sorry."

"Why?" The blonde asked, this time she was the one who was surprised.

"I'm sorry because I never meant for you to hear about it this way." Emily stared up at the ceiling, the guilt she was feeling was too much. She couldn't look at JJ, not now.

"About what Emily, that your mother and you don't get along? I already knew that." JJ shrugged; "Or about the abortion you had when you where only fifteen years old?"

The guilty look on Emily's face showed what she meant more than anything else, though JJ was glad since the brunette wasn't trying to hide her feelings like she used to. She was even the one bringing it up in a conversation, no longer was she hiding behind her compartmentalisation skills or her special agent Prentiss face.

The blonde crawled closer to Emily and rested her head on the brunette's shoulder; "Honey, you have nothing to be sorry for. I admit that it's hard to imagine to ever take such a step especially after having Henry but your situation - being fifteen and alone - didn't give you much of a choice. You did what you had to do." The blonde raised her head, she made sure that Emily was watching her before she continued.

"You did what you had to do, to the best of your knowledge and abilities. Don't keep beating yourself up over it, like I'm sure you have been doing for the past two decades. It's not worth it and there is nothing you can do to change it, you have to move forward." JJ moved away from Emily's embrace and turned to face the brunette, she reached her hand up to stroke alongside her face, along her jawline. "I love you, Emily." She leaned in and kissed her.

"I love you so much. You make me feel so special. And just look at Henry, he adores you. You make him feel safe and cared for even though you don't have to. You always make sure to include him if it is at all possible and when I was sick you took care of him. And I'm sure that has been an adjustment for you as well, you were alone for such a long time and suddenly you have a girlfriend who also brings a child into the relationship." JJ positioned herself in front of Emily, straddling her thighs.

"We're both old enough to know that our partner had a past but we're together now. What happened before doesn't matter to me, as long as we're honest with each other. I also understand that there are things that you haven't told me, that's alright too. It's only natural, you can't know everything about each other. I'm sure that my parents still have some things that the other doesn't know, as long as those _'secrets'_ aren't deal-breakers I'm sure that we can make it through though at times it might be trying but neither one of us is a quitter."

The blonde hooked her finger underneath Emily's chin and raised it to make sure that the brunette looked up; "I love you - trust me - everyday a little bit more than I already did. And I'm proud of you. I'm going to say it until you believe it, I don't care how many times that will take." The blonde stated with a determined smile on her face. "Face it, you're stuck with me."

"I like being stuck with you, more than I can ever show you." Finally the true meaning of JJ's words seemed to hit home for Emily. Her previous worried face turned into a small smile, which only brightened more when JJ placed her hands on the brunette's shoulders.

However, this time it was Emily who took the lead. Her hands came to rest on JJ's ass, she pulled the blonde closer to her and Emily kissed JJ passionately. The blonde had her hands entangled in Emily's dark hair holding her close as well while they battled for control. JJ had the upper-hand due to her position straddling Emily, but the brunette was physically stronger.

It didn't take long for them to loose their clothes, their hands roamed over each other's bodies. Emily eventually won, she eased JJ down and allowed her hands to roam over JJ's sides while she placed kisses along her throat. The blonde's breath hitched which made Emily smile deviously. She knew exactly where to touch the blonde, and she loved seeing her in the throws of passion underneath her.

**AN2: Let me know what you think!**


	38. Chapter 38

**AN: I am so incredibly sorry for not updating sooner, life has been busy but that is not an excuse to leave you all hanging. I am so so sorry, I really hope that you will still enjoy this update and that you'll let me know what you think.  
**

**Chapter 38**

After their uncomfortable lunch with Emily's parents they had returned to the BAU where JJ and Emily had acted as if they had coincidentally ran into each other in the parking lot. The blonde quickly made her way to her office and wasn't seen for the rest of the afternoon. While Emily worked on her paperwork and handled a couple of phone calls for her assigned consults, the day dragged on. The last thing her mother had said was that she needed time to process _'this __news'._

Emily had a hard time keeping the anger from her expression when she said her goodbye's to her parents. Her father had pulled her into his warm embrace and told her that it would be okay, that she shouldn't worry. But how could she not worry, she had basically told her parents that she was fine if she never saw them again? All of these thoughts kept running through her mind while she worked on the cases, like so many times before since she started dating JJ she had noticed how much harder it seemed to be to compartmentalize.

While she portrayed being the cool and collected FBI agent on the outside, Emily was slowly suffocating. She felt as if she couldn't breathe, she was afraid of what JJ would have to say about the revealed secrets when they'd arrived home. The drive from their lunch to the FBI building had been too short to start that conversation so both of them had driven in silence, lost in their own thoughts.

While Elizabeth Prentiss would probably never be all that happy with her daughter's choice of a life partner she had promised to give it a chance. Her change of heart had probably a lot to do with Edward's persistence, he just wanted his daughter to be happy. To say the least, Emily had been surprised to receive a phone call from her mother later that afternoon.

Her mother had told her that she wanted to see Emily. She'd surprised her even more when she told Emily that they should come over for dinner on Christmas eve and that they should bring Henry with them - since it would be nearly impossible to find a babysitter. The house was after all big enough to find a place where Henry could sleep while the Charity Event went on downstairs. Emily had told her mother that she would have to talk to JJ and that she would let her know what they would do.

A rerun of the yesterday's events had replayed in her mind, she remembered the fear she had felt regarding JJ's reaction as well as her mother's final answer. And the relief that washed over her when her mother called her and later on when JJ and she had talked.

Though the profiler knew that it wouldn't be easy and there would most likely be slip-ups she wanted to give her mother the chance to prove that they could be closer than they had been in a long time. JJ - who of course had a close relationship with her parents - understood why Emily wanted to restore her relationship with her parents, she had immediately offered to call her parents to make the changes to their plans for Christmas.

But Emily - even though she had been dreading to make the call, since she didn't want to keep JJ and Henry from their family - had insisted that she should be the one calling to explain why they couldn't arrive at the originally intended time. JJ hadn't expected that there would be any problems, she knew that her parents were understanding and they also knew - even though they didn't know any details - that Emily's relationship with her mother was complicated to say the least.

At first when Emily sat down to make the call she had been nervously biting her nails, but by the time she had explained to JJ's mom that her mother had asked them to come to her Christmas Eve Charity Event she had relaxed, and even a smile had appeared on her face. JJ, who had been in the same room playing with Henry, had smiled as well. By the answers she heard Emily give to her mother into the phone she could guess what her mother was saying to the brunette. Emily and Marie Jareau spoke for a good thirty minutes and by the time they were done a new schedule for the holidays was in place and the brunette felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

A couple of days before the holidays the BAU team found themselves sitting at their desks in the bullpen working on the paperwork for their latest case from which they had returned the day before, and helping on some consults while things where winding down at the office. Hotch's team had been taken out of the rotation for the holidays and everyone had made plans. This year another team was going to take the cases that came up during the holidays.

Garcia was going to see Kevin's family, Derek as usual was going to Chicago to visit his mother and sisters. Hotch was spending the days with Jack, Haley's sister and his in-laws and his brother. Rossi never really told anyone what he was going to do besides the fact that he was an author, had a couple of ex-wives and a cabin – in the middle of nowhere, the team hardly knew anything about him. And Reid had a flight to Las Vegas booked, as usual he was going to visit his mother.

Morgan was leaning back in his seat with a file propped up on his knees. Reid was going through a file on his desk, his finger gliding along the ink before he flipped the page. Emily was bent over her file as well but Morgan doubted that she was actually reading. "Reid, what are your plans for the holidays?"

"My pl... plans? I'm going to Vegas, visit my mom." The young genius shrugged; "Maybe read some books, I recently found some first edition Russian literature which I hadn't read yet."

"So that'll keep you busy for what an hour?" Morgan asked the genius with a smile. With his eidetic memory and his reading speed the muscled profiler really wondered why the young doctor even bothered to buy books. "What about you, Prentiss?"

"The big Prentiss Christmas Eve Charity Event." The brunette mumbled in reply.

"A Charity Event, black tie?"

"Yes of course, it's hosted by my mother so it's the whole nine yards and nothing will be left to coincidence." Emily shrugged, unimpressed by what she was saying, after all she had been to many events just like this one. And while people who didn't know what it was like always seemed to be impressed by the scale of one of these events it didn't impress her in the slightest.

"So that would mean that Ambassador Prentiss wants you to take a date with you, doesn't it?" He asked with a smile, he had been waiting for weeks for the perfect moment to ask Emily if she was seeing someone.

The brunette rolled her eyes but didn't react.

"No reaction? I take that as a 'yes'." The special agent laughed deeply, he loved teasing his teammates. "So Emily tell us about your date, who's the lucky person?" He used the word _'person'_ deliberately so as to not specify a gender.

"None of your business, Derek!"

"Wow! Prentiss cool down, I'm just teasing you!" He stood up and grinned at her with a smug smile, he grabbed his mug and walked away. He filled his mug in the kitchen and filled one for Garcia as well before he made his way down to the tech woman's dark lair. He stepped inside the room and without knocking and handed Garcia her mug of coffee while he patiently waited until she was done with her phone call. He sat down in one of the chairs and picked up one of PG's newest feathery and glittery pens, he teased her with the feathery side until she glared at him while she disconnected her call.

"Hi babygirl."

"Hmm, I could practically hear you frowning all the way over here my chocolate thunder, what's going on in that mind of yours?" She grinned, while she took a sip from her coffee; "I can see something is going on, you can't hide that mischievous glint in your eyes from me." She pointed at him with one of her flashy pens.

"Nothing's going on with me, but something's definitely going on with Emily. Does she have someone new in her life?"

"Why don't you ask her?" Garcia suggested while she tried to hide her smile.

"Have you met our Emily Prentiss, she'll never answer that question if I ask her directly. So I decided that it would be a good idea to ask our local oracle of knowledge." He flashed one of his charming smiles in hopes that it would lure out the truth even though he knew that Garcia wouldn't fall for his flattery like most women would.

"Right. And flattery will get you anywhere, my hot chocolate muscle man is that it?"

"Yes, babygirl it usually does." Derek shrugged with a cheeky grin.

"I hate to disappoint you, but I haven't heard a thing."

"Oh no babygirl, you're not getting away that easy. I believe that you know a lot more than you're letting on, I would even go as far as saying that you are lying."

"OH! Derek Morgan, I am in shock, I would never lie to you! Emily does not have a boyfriend!" The blonde tech analyst exclaimed loudly while she slapped him against his knee. Which was the only part of his body within arm's reach. She leaned back in her chair, pushed her glasses higher up her nose and with one look dared him to repeat his claim. Truth be told, she wasn't lying, well not completely actually she was merely holding back some of the details. Emily Prentiss did not have a boyfriend.

Derek didn't say anything else even though he was sure that Garcia was hiding something from him. He sat in silence for a few minutes. He was a profiler, he would figure it out eventually, he was sure of it and if his suspicions were right he could only be happy for them. After all that was what he wanted for his friends, happiness.

Derek got up and turned in the doorway; "I will figure it out, babygirl. You mark my words, I will figure it out." He promised. "Besides, who said that I was talking about a boyfriend? Now since you are obviously in the business of keeping secrets I hope that you'll keep mine for a little while longer, would only be fair now wouldn't it, babygirl?"

December was always a busy month, but this year Emily and JJ hardly had any time left between work and the usual day to day business. They were both running on empty and could hardly wait for the holiday's to begin. Luckily for them Will had called to tell them that he was going to visit some friends for the holidays in Louisiana and that he wouldn't be home, so Henry could go with JJ and Emily to visit his grandparents without them having to worry about being back home at a certain time or day apart from the day that they had to return to work of course.

Emily and JJ had been running around the house collecting everything they needed for their vacation at JJ's parents house. They had decided that they would make sure that everything was ready so that they could leave early in the morning. Henry had been following either one of them whereever they went, he had been asking questions about everything they did. Every 'what', 'why' and 'where' that came to mind. When lunch time came around Emily had sat him down on a kitchen chair to make a sandwich for him and had explained to him that they where going to visit her parents. She had explained to him that Elizabeth and Edward were her parents just like nanna and poppa where JJ's parents.

Henry had been silent for a while and Emily had turned around, she had smiled when she saw the frown on his little face. After a minute or so he had suddenly spoken up; "Mama? Are they my nanna and poppa too?" Emily had frozen at the counter with her back to Henry, she wasn't sure what to say.

"Mommy isn't here sweetie, it's just me and you for now." Emily replied quickly to Henry, avoiding the fact that she suspected that he was calling her _'mama'._He had always called JJ mommy and she didn't think that he suddenly started calling his mother by a different name.

That was the moment that JJ choose to enter the kitchen; "Who are your nanna and poppa?" JJ asked her young son while she ruffled his hair. For now also choosing to ignore what Henry had called Emily.

"Em'ly's mommy and daddy." Henry stated matter of factly.

JJ was stunned for a moment. Of course Henry had only one set of grandparents since Will's parents had both passed away long before he was even born, though after knowing a little bit more about Emily's parents she doubted if she could ever see them as grandparent material. JJ looked up at Emily who stared back at her unable to answer the question either. "Ehm ... I don't know honey." The blonde kneeled in front of Henry and looked up at him; "Would you like that?"

"I like Em'ly and I like my nanna and poppa." The little boy shrugged, making the statement with a logic that only a child could bring forth.

"Well, how about we see what Emily's mommy and daddy are like tomorrow night?" JJ said hoping that it would avert the potentially disastrous situation from happening.

The brunette's eyes shifted nervously from mother to son before she returned her attention back to the sandwich she was preparing, sighing in relief since JJ didn't seem to notice what got her so on edge. She cut the bread into little squares and placed the plate in front of Henry who started munching on the sandwich.

JJ sat down next to Henry and watched him with a smile on her face; he looked up at his mother and smiled, a smear of peanut butter was already caked to his cheek. Emily was standing with her back to them; she quickly prepared some sandwiches for JJ and herself and sat down at the table. She pushed JJ's plate across the table towards her.

It wasn't until later that evening when Emily stepped out of the shower and put on her pj's that she had to think about Henry calling her 'mama' again. If she was honest she had to admit that she liked it, she never asked for it but it made her feel special once the initial shock had worn off.

Ever since she started dating JJ, she had treated Henry as if he was her own. She didn't have to but she wanted to, even though there had been moments where she had doubted her own ability to take care of a child, Henry had given trust and love back. At least as much trust and love as a three year old has to offer, he had wanted her to kiss his _booboo_ away a couple of months ago. And one night when he was scared because of a storm raging outside he had wanted her to stay with him instead of JJ until he fell asleep. So she figured that she must be doing something right, but she had never expected him to refer to her as his mother. After all he had a mother and a father who both loved him very much and who would do anything to keep him safe and cared for.

And while she hadn't initiated the name, it did worry her she knew for sure that Will wouldn't like it one bit. Especially since he was already afraid that she was trying to take his place in Henry's life, this would just be adding fuel to the fire. And she wasn't sure about JJ either, she was Henry's mother and they had never discussed this. Adding Emily's name as a caregiver or a contact at the daycare was one thing but having Henry call her 'mama' was a whole other ballgame.

Emily watched her reflection in the mirror, she had always wanted kids for as long as she could remember but she had given up hope a couple of years ago. She wasn't exactly young anymore and she didn't want to have kids on her own, and back then JJ - who she had been in love with all along, had been with Will and she had never expected that she would ever have a chance with her. In fact she had been convinced that she would be alone for the rest of her life. But everything had changed and here she was together with JJ and her son and they formed a family, maybe not the traditional kind but a family indeed.

Emily sighed; she needed to talk to JJ. She descended the stairs and found JJ where she left her before she went upstairs to take a shower. She sat down on the couch next to JJ, watching the blonde while she finished the page she had been reading. The media liaison had looked up to smile at Emily in acknowledgment, before she turned her attention back to the book. Emily was leaning back into the couch cushions; she pulled her legs up onto the cushion and took in JJ's appearance. The blonde finished the page and closed the book, placing it next to her on the couch before she turned in her seat towards her.

"We need to talk." Emily stated with an apologetic smile.

JJ nodded in reply; "About Henry?" She asked the brunette, though she already knew what the answer was going to be.

"Yes, yes about Henry." Emily confirmed what JJ had already expected. "I eh ... didn't ask him to call me that."

"I know." JJ replied with a smile, that grew even wider when Emily's head snapped up. The brunette stared straight at the blonde. "You would never ask Henry to call you anything but your name. My best guess was that he started calling you _'mama'_ all on his own."

Emily sighed in relief; "No, no. I would never ask him to call me that unless we'd talked about it and even then I don't think that I would just go for it, I would be hesitant. I am not his mother and I am not trying to take anyones place."

"Emily, I know. I know." JJ smiled, she reassured her lover that she wasn't mad or disappointed or whatever Emily might think she would be. After all it wasn't anything the brunette had done. "I have to admit it was strange hearing Henry call you mama ..."

"I am so sorry, it's not right you're his mother I'm just your partner. I will do anything in my power to protect Henry and to make sure that he has a happy youth and I love him with all my heart, but I'm not his mother or mama ... and I ..." The brunette was rambling and she knew it, words kept pouring out of her mouth and she was unable to stop them especially once she realized how strange it must have been for JJ to hear her son call someone else _'mama'_ even if it was her partner.

JJ raised her brow while watching Emily as the words tumbled out of her mouth until she couldn't take it anymore. She quickly pushed herself up on Emily's thighs until their faces where just a couple of inches apart. She leaned in even closer kissing the brunette - effectively smothering the train of words from Emily's mouth - she leaned back and watched the brunette with a smile on her face; "As I was saying, the more I think about it the more I like it. I guess that it's Henry's way of telling you that he accepts you as a parent."

There was a shocked expression on Emily's face which quickly turned into a smile the second the words JJ spoke registered. Finally a smile appeared and tears of happiness filled her eyes. The blonde in front of her matched her smile and leaned in again their lips met in the middle. JJ's hand stroked alongside Emily face in a comforting gesture. "I love you, Jennifer."

"I love you too, honey." The blonde replied with just as much passion. Suddenly she could feel Emily's body stiffen underneath her. "Emily, what's going on? What changed?" She asked in worry.

"Oh my God, I'm sure that Will is going too love it as well." Sarcasm dripped from each word while the brunette sighed. JJ smiled, shook her head in disbelieve and snuggled herself into Emily's side. The brunette relaxed a little and dropped her arm around JJ's shoulder.

"Probably not. But I'm not going to tell Henry to stop calling you mama, it's so sweet. Especially since you had no idea how to react." JJ kissed Emily on her cheek and chuckled; "That wasn't the first time though, was it?"

Sometimes it was as if JJ was reading Emily's mind, she had been asking herself if she should tell her that it wasn't the first time that Henry called her mama. She hadn't talked about it sooner because of the whole ordeal that happened when she arrived home; "Ehm, no. The first time was actually when you were sick and I took Henry with me to the store. I told you that we ran into Derek while we where there. Henry decided that it was the perfect moment to call me 'mama' for the first time. I acted as if he was asking for you but let's be honest here that was wishful thinking, Derek is a profiler after all. And earlier this week he made it painfully obvious that he knows that something is going on."

JJ's head snapped up; "Why, what did he say? He didn't say anything to me."

Emily shrugged; "Derek was asking what our plans where for the holidays. So I mentioned the Charity. I thought it would be an easy out, but it only made things harder. He asked me if it was black tie and he immediately knew that I couldn't go alone. Which I confirmed because that is how these type of events go after all. He started asking me who my date was and I kind of snapped." The brunette admitted with an apologetic smile.

"What happened?"

"He just got up and left, I think that he went to see Garcia. Do you think she told him?"

"No, well not deliberately at least. But you know PG, she's over-excited and happy for us but she would never tell someone on purpose. And Derek, he's a profiler."

"He knows." Emily confirmed, it didn't matter whether or not Garcia had said something. Knowing Derek he had probably known before he teased her, he probably even teased her to let her know that he knew without actually saying out loud that he knew about them. "What are we going to do about it?"

"For now, nothing. We're going away for a week, we have the holidays coming up. Derek is on an early flight to Chicago in the morning. There is enough time to think about our action plan." JJ shrugged, as usual being the voice of reason, she snuggled even more into Emily's side. "Are you ready for tomorrow?"

"As ready as I'll ever be." The brunette answered softly; "I just want to tell you that no matter what happens tomorrow I love you and I want you to know that."

"I know, Em." The blonde smiled at the concern in her lover's voice. "You're not responsible for what your mother does. Besides it's only one night, just a couple of hours and we'll be on our way to my parents.

"But what if she says something..." JJ reached her hand up and pushed her finger against Emily's lips.

"She won't. Not in public anyway. Your mother is a politician, she knows how to handle herself." The blonde smiled, she wasn't worried about the Charity event, she was more worried about the time before the event - the dinner and Emily's parents meeting Henry for the first time - and the morning after - the breakfast before they would leave to drive all the way up to East Alleghany.

"You're probably right." The brunette had to admit. "Let's sleep, there are still some things we need to do before we can go to the Mansion.''

Emily placed the dresses carefully on top of the bags they had prepared to take to East Alleghany and went back into the house. "JJ are you ready? We really need to go now?" She called out to the blonde who was still upstairs doing something. "Henry sweetie, come here we're going to wait in the car for your mommy."

"Where are we going, mama?" Henry asked while he took Emily's outstretched hand.

"Here let me put your warm coat on." The brunette said to the small child while she got down to his level; "Mommy and I are taking you to meet my parents and we'll have dinner with them. You remember we talked about that yesterday?"

He chuckled and nodded his head while Emily zipped up his warm winter coat and put on his boots. "They have a really big house so we are going to stay with them tonight and tomorrow morning we'll go to East Alleghany. And who lives there?"

"Nanna and Grampy!"

"Yes, that's right." Emily smiled; "Are you all warm and cosy?" She asked Henry knowing that he would dive into the snow as soon as he could wiggle himself out of her hand. And she would let him just like she did that morning when they had woken up to a world covered in a layer of white. She opened the door and allowed Henry to pass her. "Henry, you can be outside just until mommy's here, okay?"

She didn't get an answer, just an explosion of giggles when a snowball hit her against her chest. Earlier that morning Henry and she had been outside playing in the snow and Emily had taught him to make the perfect snowball all the while they had waited for JJ to come outside.

The blonde, who had been unaware of what was going on outside, had been caught by surprise as a heap of snowballs - one after another - had been flung in her direction by her son and partner. "Oh so that's how you're going to play it, Henry. First I teach you something only so that you can use it against me?" She chuckled and made a snowball which she threw in Henry's direction without even trying to get close to him.

The front door opened again and JJ stepped outside; "Don't even try to throw any snowballs at me!" She quickly said when she noticed that both Henry as well as Emily had a snowball in their hand. One glare from JJ and they both dropped their snowballs to the ground. She turned back to the door and locked it, Emily and Henry made their way to the car and the brunette was strapping Henry in his car seat when JJ joined them. "Do you have everything?"

Emily opened the door on the driver side of the car and sat down; "Yes, of course I have everything, it's all in the back of the car." The brunette answered while she backed the car out of the driveway onto the street. Soon they where on their way to the old Prentiss Mansion. It took them a little under an hour to arrive, the roads had been busy.


	39. Chapter 39

**AN: Merry Christmas!  
**

**Chapter 39**

Emily bit her lip nervously the moment she drove down the long lane towards the house, trees were placed on both sides of the driveway obscuring the mansion from view. The Prentiss family was a family of old money, the Mansion had been in the family for decades. Emily had never felt comfortable here, not even when she used to live here in the short periods between her mother's various postings all around the world. She hated the way the Mansion looked and what people thought of her because she used to live there and in Mansions just like this one all around the world and now she was taking JJ and Henry here.

JJ watched Emily, she was nervous she could see it in the way she held the steering wheel in her hands, her knuckles had turned white and she was biting on her lip. The blonde smiled and reached out her hand and touched Emily's arm to gain her attention. The brunette quickly glanced at the blonde and smiled. "It'll be okay." She mouthed softly to the older woman.

"I know. Well, I hope it will be." Emily answered, she really hoped it would be okay but she had to see it to believe it.

The trees had been blocking the view of the Mansion so far, but finally the completely decorated house and Christmas tree came into view. And the blonde had to stifle a gasp, she had known that Emily was rich. That she had a large trust fund that she could take money from whenever she needed it - though she preferred not to - but never had she known that Emily's family was _this_ rich. It didn't matter to her, she loved Emily for who she was not what she owned.

"This is it, the Prentiss Mansion in all of it's full glory." Emily said with a nervous smile on her face. She was used to seeing the Mansion like this, Christmas was usually the only time that she visited her parents during the year. Since her parents usually resided outside of the USA the rest of the year.

She parked the car in front of the garage to the side of the Mansion, knowing that the rest of the lane would be filled with cars as soon as the Charity Event began. Emily and JJ got out of the car and took the bags they needed from the trunk along with the dresses they would be wearing later that night. Emily retrieved Henry from the back seat and together they made their way towards the front of the Mansion. When they rounded the corner of the house her father came walking through the snow towards them - much to Emily's surprise.

"Emily sweetheart, I am so glad you made it." Edward Prentiss hugged his daughter, careful of the small child that was clinging to her, hiding his face in her neck.

"It's good to see you too, thank you for talking to her." Emily replied kindly. Meaning her father talking to her mother because she was sure that without his interference her mother would have never called her back. "Dad, I would like you to meet Henry, who's right here suddenly acting all shy." She smiled gesturing to the small child in her arms who was still hiding his face in her neck.

"Hi Henry, it's really nice to meet you." Edward said, placing a hand on the child's back.

When Henry reacted by holding on even tighter to Emily the older Prentiss stepped backwards and took Emily's bag from her shoulder. He swung it over his own before he moved towards JJ. "Jennifer it's so good to see you again." He said genuinely, he hugged her quickly and stepped back; "Let me take that bag off your hands."

"It's really good to see you too, Mister Prentiss." JJ replied with a smile; "Thank you but you don't have to take my bag, it's not necessary.

"Jennifer, please it's Edward. And don't say I didn't offer to take your bag, like a true gentleman is supposed to do."

"I will only call you Edward if you call me JJ, that's what all my friends call me." The blonde replied with a chuckle; "And don't worry I will never complain that you didn't take my bag."

"That's a deal, JJ." Emily's father answered with a grin. "Let's go inside, it's getting too cold."

Henry choose that moment to pull his head away from Emily's neck - where he had been hiding - since the unfamiliar man's attention was no longer focussed on him; "Mama, is that your daddy?" He asked softly but still loud enough for everyone to hear because he still hadn't really grasped the concept of whispering.

Edward Prentiss raised his brow at his daughter but didn't say anything, he figured that would be a conversation they would have at a later time.

"Yes, that is my daddy." Emily confirmed with a smile at her father.

Together they set foot inside the house, the front doors opened into a large hall. One that you usually would see in the movies, with a half round staircase on either side of the hall. JJ was even more impressed with the inside of the Mansion than she had been with the outside.

The complete house was decked out in Christmas ornaments and music was playing softly in the background. "Lets go see if we can find your mother, she's probably in the kitchen making sure that everyone is doing everything exactly the way she wants them to be done." Edward spoke up, effectively breaking JJ's glance around the house.

Elizabeth Prentiss was standing in the middle of the large kitchen, handing out orders to the staff that were preparing the dinner they would be eating as well as the finger food for the Charity Event. The kitchen was bustling with people walking in and out. A crew of people were working at the stove from which delicious smells made their way throughout the rest of the Mansion. JJ had never seen anything like it, at least not in real life in a house, the organisation looked more like a restaurant kitchen than anything else.

Suddenly one of the women who had been working at the large stove turned around and stopped dead in her tracks when her eyes fell upon the new arrivals. A huge smile broke on her face. She dried her hands on a towel that was hanging from her belt and stepped away from the stove; "Mrs. Prentiss, Emily's here."

The older Prentiss woman spun around on her heels and smiled politely at her daughter and her girlfriend. "Edward, you could have warned me that Emily was here." She said accusingly before she turned her attention towards her daughter; "Emily dear, it's so good to see you." She air kissed her daughter with that same polite smile on her face.

"Miss Jareau, it's so..."

"It's JJ or Jennifer, dear." Edward interrupted his wife, much to her dislike.

The older Prentiss woman send a dead glare in his direction; "Jennifer, it's so nice to see you again." Elizabeth choose the latter knowing that the blonde wanted to be called JJ instead of Jennifer and that way she could keep a certain distance. "And this must be your son? Henry, was it?" She asked gesturing towards Henry who was currently busy to hide his face even further into Emily's neck. When that didn't help he turned his head away from Emily's neck to the other side, unaware that Emily's father was standing there. When he opened his eyes he looked straight into the smiling face of Edward Prentiss.

"Yes, dear this is Henry. Isn't he the cutest!" Edward laughed loudly and ruffled Henry's hair. Emily couldn't suppress a sigh, she hated it when her mother acted like this.

"Henry can you say hi to my mother?" Emily asked the small child in her arms who moved his head side to side. "Come on, usually you aren't this shy, show her that cute smile of yours. I thought you were a big boy I must have mistaken you for someone else." Emily rolled her eyes at JJ and smiled.

Finally Henry looked up in shock; "No mama, I'm a big boy."

"Prove it." Emily replied to Henry with a smile, she ignored her mother's raised brow. She knew exactly what her mother was thinking. She'd known that the chance that her mother would hear Henry call her 'mama' was pretty big, and she knew that her mother would be sceptical but she didn't care. JJ and she had talked about it and since neither one of them had a problem with it she wouldn't let her mother's ideas about the matter ruin the way she felt.

"Hi." Henry said shyly, before he hid his face again.

Emily diverted her attention to the woman that had first noticed their presence; "Hi Maria, it's so good to see you again." She said greeting the older woman who had taken care of her for many years. For as long as Emily could remember the woman had been working for the Prentiss family. She moved around her mother towards Maria and embraced her.

"Emily it's so good to see you too, you look well. Is that beautiful woman your girl?" The older woman asked softly, she knew the ins and outs of the Prentiss family and she had always known that Emily was gay. She in fact had been the person Emily would turn to when she was a teenager and needed advice.

"Yes, that's my girl. Jayje, I would like you to meet Maria." She said turning towards JJ - who was looking a little lost - and waved her over; "Maria, this is Jennifer Jareau. Jayje, this is Maria. If you're here and you ever need anything Maria is the person to ask. She's the one who taught me how to cook all those delicious meals." The brunette added with a genuine smile. "Maria this is Henry, JJ's son."

"He's a cute kid and by the looks of it he has accepted you as his mommy as well." The elderly woman smiled warmly. She knew a lot about Emily's struggles during her youth and her difficulties with her mother. Maria had always tried to be a sort of 'replacement-mother', especially since she was one of the few people on staff who had moved with the family to all of Elizabeth's postings. She had always been in charge of the other staff, she had to make sure that everyone knew what they had to do.

"Emily, dear can we move this to the living room now." Elizabeth said loudly; "We have a Charity Event tonight, we can't take any more time away from the kitchen crew." She turned on her heels and walked out of the room.

Emily smiled apologetically to Maria before she guided JJ away from the older woman to follow her mother to the den. Edward followed them, he closed the doors behind them and urged everyone to take a seat. As the adults sat down Henry started to become very restless, JJ handed him a couple of his cars and Emily allowed him to sit down on the floor in front of them. An awkward silence ensued in which all of the adults focussed their attention on Henry. It didn't take long before one of the people on staff knocked on the door, he stepped inside and placed a can of coffee and cups on the table.

"Jennifer tell us something about yourself." Elizabeth asked the blonde stiffly.

"What would you like to know, Elizabeth?" The blonde replied with a kind smile.

"Mother, please." Emily spoke up, she hated it when her mother interrogated her friends - one of the many reasons why she only took people home with her when she was younger if she was sure that her mother wouldn't be home.

"Em, it's okay. Your parents just want to know a little bit more about me." JJ spoke with a smile but Elizabeth's question made her feel very uncomfortable. It was as if she was checking if JJ was good enough for Emily, which was strange since she'd already been voted unfit the very first second Elizabeth figured out that something more was going on between her and Emily. For once the media liaison was glad that she was able to hide her true feelings behind her cool and collected media liaison expression.

Emily raised her hands in mock surrender, though both she and JJ knew that she would step in if he mother went too far. JJ started telling Elizabeth and Edward about her youth in East Allegheny, just the basics, nothing too deep or too personal.

Elizabeth's next topic was of course JJ's education, always the standard topics that needed to be answered to determine what kind of a person she had sitting opposite of her. The conversation dragged on, every now and then an awkward uncomfortable silence fell in which they either stared at Henry or took a sip from their drink to win some extra time. Everyone seemed to sigh in relief when Maria called them into the dinning room. A fire was lit in the fireplace and a christmas tree positioned in the far corner. A couple of presents where placed neatly underneath the tree.

"Please take a seat." Elizabeth gestured to the seats on the opposite side of the table, three chairs were placed on either side and two at the heads of the table. The table was decked with all the best silverware and china.

"Your father thought that since it is Christmas we should get you all a present. I didn't agree because we've only just found out that you live together with someone and are raising a child." The older Prentiss woman had to once again proclaim her dislike of Emily's choices for everyone to hear.

"Elizabeth, stop this nonsense. It's Christmas, it's a family-time and I want my daughter to be here with her family in whatever way, shape or form that family comes. And if I want to buy them a present that is my choice." It was obvious that it wasn't the first time that they were having this particular argument.

"Well then by all means hand out the presents before Maria serves dinner, it's a shame to let it all go to waste." Elizabeth sat down on her chair, she could barely contain a roll of her eyes while her husband urged Henry to follow him to the Christmas tree in the corner. Henry looked up at JJ, and when she nodded her head and smiled to him he quickly followed the older man. Within seconds he was sitting on the floor covered in the paper that he'd ripped off the big box in front of him.

"What's that you got there, sweetie?" JJ asked her son while she crouched down on her knees and looked at the gigantic box in front of the small boy.

"I don't know." Henry said, shrugging his shoulders.

"You know what that is, it's a sled." JJ smiled; "Emily's parents must have known how much you love playing in the snow!" She knew that Henry wasn't old enough yet to really grasp the concept of Christmas and she wanted to show some gratitude towards Emily's parents, mostly her father, but unlike the Ambassador she wasn't choosing to exclude the woman. She hoped that if she showed well intention instead of her true feelings towards Emily's mother, she might adjust her opinion about her. Or at least see that she was able to make Emily happy.

Edward smiled while he watched Emily interact with JJ and Henry, this was all he ever wanted for his daughter. Happiness. He knew that Emily's life had been far from perfect and he was part of the cause. But he was planning on making sure that things changed, and if that meant that he had to do it on his own without his wife, so be it.

He got up from his knees where he had been watching Henry and JJ unpack the present and smiled at Emily; "This is for you and JJ." He said while he handed her a flat square box.

"Thank you. Jayje, come see, my dad got us a present as well."

JJ ruffled Henry's hair and stood up to join Emily. The brunette pulled the bow from the small box and opened it, a gasp escaped from her mouth inside was a certificate for a nice weekend away at one of her favorite bed & breakfast's in Virginia. It would be the perfect getaway for when they had a weekend on their own without Henry.

"Thank you, dad. This is wonderful, I'm sure that Jayje and I will make good use of it soon." The brunette smiled genuinely at her dad before she hugged him.

"Thanks Edward, you didn't have to do that." JJ gave the older Prentiss man a hug as well.

"It's my pleasure." He smiled genuinely; "And yes, you're right I didn't have to, but I did."

Maria choose that moment to bring in the dinner. It was easy to see were Emily got her cooking skills, the food looked, if it was even possible, better than in a restaurant. They all decided to keep the conversation flowing with random topics and kept the personal topics to a minimal. Though every person breathed a sigh of relief when the dinner came to an end. With barely enough time to bring Henry to bed and get him settled and get dressed for the Charity event, they retreated upstairs.

"Emily, the guests will be arriving around eight, it would be nice if the two of you can be downstairs at that time." Elizabeth Prentiss stated before the brunette opened the door.

"Yes, mother we will be ready." Emily spoke softly before she turned towards JJ and Henry; "Let's go upstairs get you ready for bed, little man."

"No, I'm not tired mama."

"Oh, but I think you are because I saw you yawn just a couple of minutes ago." Emily replied with a smile; "Didn't you see it as well, Jayje?"

"Yes, I believe I did too." The blonde smiled and picked her son up.

Emily smiled at her parents before she picked up the box that contained the sled. And led the way upstairs towards the guest-bedrooms, where they would be staying after the Charity Event ended. They put Henry to bed, read him a bed time story taking turns, one of them would get dressed while the other read the story and they would switch halfway through. Henry was determined to stay awake, but sooner rather than later his eyes started to close.

JJ stepped inside from the room next door, a dark navy dress flowed perfectly around her body in her hand she held a necklace. JJ handed it to Emily who gestured to the blonde to turn around while she adjusted the necklace around the blonde's neck. She quickly dropped her eyes towards Henry who seemed to be sound asleep; "Are you ready for this?"

"As ready as I'll ever be. It could have been a lot worse, so far so good I guess." Emily whispered; "Well as good as we could have hoped for at least. Let's go downstairs."

The party was well on it's way when something behind her caught Emily's attention. Minutes before JJ had stepped out of the room and Emily was left talking to one of her families long-time friends. Her interest was peaked when her mother started talking to Herald Jones, a very outspoken man, an ambassador like her mother. In fact the Prentiss family and the Jones family had crossed path's for a long, long time, they both came from wealthy families with a long background in the Washington area.

He was loud and overbearing, always thought that everyone around him should listen to whatever it was that he had to say even if no one cared; "Elizabeth, is it true what I am hearing?"

"What would that be, Herald?" The older Prentiss woman asked the overweight older man politely.

"I am hearing rumors that your daughter is dating a woman, the disgrace. How could you let that happen?" Herald Jones asked."Didn't you raise her right. It's disgusting. She's a beautiful woman, I have a son, he can set her straight." A sickening laugh erupted from his large belly.

Unfortunately Emily hadn't been standing too far away, she had been able to hear all of the conversation. She had previously been talking to an old family friend along with her father while JJ had excused herself to check on Henry, who was asleep upstairs. Edward Prentiss tried to hold his daughter back but he knew that it was no use, it would only prolong the inevitable. He excused himself quickly and followed Emily while she made her way towards her mother and Ambassador Jones.

"Sir, with all due respect to your son, no man will ever set me straight. I am perfectly happy with the way things are." Emily spoke softly - her fist clenched at her sides her knuckles turned white - she knew that causing a scene would not help the situation any further, but she didn't care. She couldn't stand here and hear this man say all of those comments that she hated so much.

Elizabeth cleared her throat, stepped forward passed Emily. She brushed her hand along her daughters arm momentarily shifting her attention towards her mother instead of Ambassador Jones.

More and more people became aware of what was happening in their mids and in the middle of it all JJ decided to return. The fear was visible in her eyes when she noticed that Emily stepped forward. Edward Prentiss who had caught her eyes nodded his head and gave her a reassuring smile. But that only worried JJ even more, she knew that this had been one of the many scenarios that Emily had been afraid of. And basically what it all came down to was the way that Elizabeth reacted and JJ feared for the worst. Especially since Elizabeth had been very clear about the fact that she didn't like their relationship one bit.

Imagine the surprised look that crossed her face when she watched Elizabeth Prentiss step past her daughter and get in the guys face. A relieved look passed her face and Edward who had been watching her as well as his wife and daughter smiled back at her as if he'd known all along.

"Ambassador Jones, you are here in my house by my invitation only and yet you come here and insult my daughter, my family." The older woman stepped forward into Jones' personal space; "My daughter is something to be proud off, she has grown up to be a wonderful woman with her heart in the right place, a fine FBI agent fighting to make this world a safer place. And though I have to admit that she didn't grow up to be this person because of me, I am proud of my daughter. Who she loves should be no matter that concerns you. I wish I could change it, just because it would make things easier for her, so she wouldn't have to deal with bigoted people like you. I don't have that kind of hold on my daughter that you seem to have on your sons. You're right about that at least, not the way you want the world to believe, but at least I know that my daughter is happy with her partner of choice."

"Now I want you to go grab that _'new wife'_ of yours, who by the way is years younger than my daughter - that is something to be ashamed of - and go home and don't you ever dare set foot in my house again if your not invited by me." Elizabeth spoke softly but the tone of voice made sure that everyone around her knew not to mess with her.

"Come on Elizabeth, you know I always joke around." Jones tried get back into the good books with Elizabeth Prentiss.

"This is not a joking matter, Herald. I am serious. Leave!"

"If I leave, you know that you'll miss out on a lot of money for your Charity." Jones smiled, knowing that this evening's reason was all about the money the Prentiss' could collect for the Charity of their choice.

"Well Herald, I wouldn't worry about my wife's Charity if I were you. I will make sure that your amount will be met, surpassed even." Edward stepped forward with a smile; "Now, I believe that my wife told you to leave?"

"You are going to regret this Elizabeth, mark my words." Herald spoke waving his finger in Elizabeth's direction.

"No, I am sure that I won't, because I have my family and that is something you don't have." Elizabeth stabbed at the older man, knowing that his family fell apart after he left his first wife - who at the time had been ill - for a twenty something year old secretary. A betrayal with which his children couldn't cope and they had all chosen their mother's side.

JJ moved through the gathered crowd to Emily's side, she wrapped her arms around Emily's and entangled their hands. The brunette didn't seem to notice it, she was focussed on her mother.

Elizabeth turned around and for the first time she seemed to noticed that almost everyone was watching their confrontation. "If anyone else here has a problem with the fact that my daughter is living together with her partner, who happens to be a woman as well, I would like to ask you to leave as well." Elizabeth strode through the crowd towards the bar where she was quickly handed a drink.

Herald Jones and his _new_ wife left, a handful of people shuffled towards the door but none of them said anything. Edward watched them as they left, making mental notes for future reference. He made his way to his daughter and her girlfriend who still seemed to be in a kind of daze, and who could blame them.

The change in his wife was a complete and unexpected turnaround for Emily. He was happy because he had tried to convince his wife that they should be happy that their daughter found a soulmate and that the love she felt for JJ was answered. He had hoped that his wife would see her flaw in her thinking when she was confronted with Emily, JJ and Henry. And he couldn't be happier that it worked, because he had to admit that he had been afraid that he wouldn't be able to change the Ambassador's mind.

She wasn't an easy woman, he knew that but what she did tonight changed everything. For once in her life she stood up for Emily. Defended her, showed Emily that she loved her, something which both Emily as well as Elizabeth had always struggled with.

He placed his hand on his daughters shoulder; "Go talk to your mother." He spoke softly to her before he offered JJ his arm. The blonde kissed Emily on her cheek and took Edward's arm. He led her away from Emily who took a tentative step towards her mother who was still standing at the bar.

Emily breathed in deeply before she stepped forward, when she reached her mother's side she gestured to the waiter to give them both another drink of whatever it was that her mother was drinking. He quickly handed her two glasses and left. Emily turned towards her mother; "Thank you." Her voice was soft, barely above a whisper.

"Don't thank me." Elizabeth said while she took the glass from Emily's hand. The brunette's shoulders slumped at her mother's reply. The older woman noticed it, she raised her hand to her daughter's chin and raised it. Making sure that the dark brown eyes looked straight at her; "You don't have to thank me, Emily. There is no reason to thank me, I should have done that ages ago."

Emily sighed in relief.

"I'm sorry Emily, your father has been right all along. I want you to be happy and if that is what you are with JJ by your side, who am I to judge that. I basically let Maria raise you, so what right do I have to tell you what's right and wrong." Elizabeth smiled sadly. "I know that I haven't made things easy for you, Emily but what I saw today made me change my mind about a lot of things."

Emily opened her mouth to say something but her mother's stern look silenced her in an instant.

"I've never seen you the way you were today, your eyes lit up whenever you looked at JJ and Henry or if you talked about them. And that proud smile on your face when that little boy called you 'mama'. It made me realize how much I have missed with you and how responsible I am for that." Elizabeth moved closer to her daughter; "I really am sorry and I will also tell JJ that I'm sorry."

Emily didn't know how to react, so she did what she had learned to do since she and JJ got together. She embraced her mother, she was overwhelmed by the feelings of need and want and tears stung in her eyes. She couldn't remember the last time she had felt this comfortable around her mother.

Her mother stepped backwards and downed the amber coloured liquid from the glass before she placed it back on the bar. "Let's go, we'll find that gorgeous woman of yours so that I can apologize to her as well and then you'll tell me all about that cute little boy that calls you 'mama'."


	40. Chapter 40

**Chapter 40**

It was late when everyone finally left. The Charity Event did well and they received a good amount of money to finish some projects that the Charity had already started and maybe some new projects as well. Elizabeth Prentiss was happy with the results but all of that seemed really unimportant at the moment. She was sitting at one of the makeshift bars with Edward, Emily and JJ. She smiled happily while she watched her daughter interact with her girlfriend. She had honestly never thought that this was something that she could enjoy; yet she was happy.

They had been talking for a while about random subjects and Emily had been smiling and laughing and Elizabeth couldn't really remember seeing her own daughter that happy. Tonight had changed a lot of things; her perspective had certainly changed. She hadn't liked the fact that Emily was gay, she had always known that it would make her life a lot more difficult than it should be. However, when Elizabeth was confronted with Herald Jones' comments about her own daughter, she'd realized that she was just like him and something inside of her had clicked. She was suddenly faced with her own cruel behavior of denying her own daughter her happiness and she had felt obliged to stand up for Emily.

For the first time in a long, long time Emily and she had connected on a much deeper level, maybe even better than they ever had before. She sighed in relief. "I'm sorry to say it but I think that we should break it up for tonight, it's getting really late and you two have a four hour drive ahead of you in the morning."

"Yes, we do." Emily rubbed her eyes; "It's going to be a long day tomorrow as well." Her arm was placed loosely around JJ's shoulders while the blonde leaned into her.

"And today has been a long day also." Elizabeth commented with a smile.

"It was, but in the end it was totally worth it." The brunette admitted with a smile towards her mother. Edward smiled, finally the two most important women in his life were getting along or at least they were on the same page. Which was a huge step forward, one he always feared he would never get to see.

"Let's call it a night." Edward said while he stood up.

JJ followed as well as Elizabeth, Emily was the last person to stand up and when she did she closed in on her mother and wrapped her arms around the older woman. It took Elizabeth a couple of seconds to adjust but soon her arms wrapped around her daughter. "Thank you." Emily mumbled only for her mother to hear.

"No, thank you for giving me another chance. I know that I have not been the mother you wanted me or needed me to be." Elizabeth spoke softly as well, while her arms were still wrapped around her daughter.

Edward motioned for JJ to follow him; in silence they left the room with smiles on their face. No words needed to be uttered between the two of them; they had both seen the change in the two women they loved. Edward and JJ made their way upstairs, where they said goodnight to each other. The blonde quickly checked on Henry who was still asleep in the room next to where Emily and she would be sleeping.

Meanwhile Emily and Elizabeth were still downstairs talking. It was a good thirty minutes later when Emily finally walked upstairs, she quickly checked on Henry - who was in a deep sleep - she adjusted the covers around his small body and placed a kiss on his shaggy hair. She proceeded towards the other room and tried to be as quiet as she could in the event that JJ had already fallen asleep. As soon as she opened the door, the blonde smiled and rolled over; "I'm still awake."

"Okay, I'll just brush my teeth and I'll be right back." It took the brunette a couple of minutes to return to the bedroom from the bathroom. She shivered in the cold and quickly made her way over to the large bed. She slipped between the covers and revelled in the warmth that was spreading from JJ's body. The brunette wrapped her arms around the blonde and sighed contently; "That was an interesting night."

"I think that would be the understatement of the century, Emily." JJ answered with a smile on her face.

"I guess that you're right about that." The brunette admitted with a chuckle; "It never felt so good to talk to the Ambassador."

"That's because she listened to you, your mother actually listened to you."

"Yeah, my mother..." Emily snuggled closer to JJ and closed her eyes, the blonde followed shortly and soon they both drifted off to a deep sleep. It was a good eight hours later when they woke up. They stayed in bed for a little while longer, wrapped in each other's arms while they slowly became aware of the world around them. "Jayje, did that really happen?"

"Hmm ... your mother defending you? Yes, it did." JJ pushed herself up on one elbow and leaned over Emily, she quickly kissed the older woman before she sat up on the edge of the large bed.

"Don't get up, stay." Emily mumbled her eyes still closed.

JJ smiled at her antics, the brunette wasn't ready to face the day yet - something which she had become very familiar with over the last couple of months – the blond however became very used to getting up early. Before, when she was with Will she was always up first in the morning, with Emily that had changed the brunette didn't measure the time she spend taking care of Henry the way Will always did. JJ's life had gotten into a much more natural flow, which made it easier to do things for herself every once in a while, like sleep late or stay in bed just a little longer. She watched the brunette while she turned towards her before she started to talk; "I'm just going to check on Henry, see if he's awake. Don't worry I'll be right back." The blonde left the room and returned a couple of minutes later with Henry in tow. The small child ran passed her and jumped onto the bed loudly exclaiming; "Wake up, mama! Wake up!" While he violently pushed Emily back and forth to get her to wake up.

"Mean Jayje, so so mean." The brunette smiled while she grabbed Henry and started tickling him. The little boy squealed loudly and called out for his mommy to help him. JJ quickly joined in on all the fun and a good five minutes later all three of them where resting breathlessly on the bed.

"So ehm ... in the Prentiss household how does one get breakfast?" JJ asked with a chuckle when her stomach grumbled loudly.

The brunette chuckled upon hearing the grumble; "Well usually Maria is the one who makes sure that breakfast is served as soon as we get downstairs but after last night I'm not sure about anything anymore..." Her voice started out happily but it dropped in volume and became less steady.

JJ turned around, propping herself up on her forearms to watch Emily's face, her hand stroked along the brunette's cheek. "Well then let's get dressed, go downstairs and we'll take it from there." The blonde smiled, kissed the brunette before she pushed herself up from the bed and retreated into the bathroom.

Ten minutes and a quick shower later she returned and told Emily that it was her turn, the brunette showered just as quickly. She came back dressed in a simple black sweater and a pair of tight fitting jeans. Meanwhile JJ had made sure that Henry was dressed as well and the three of them left the room to go downstairs.

When they passed Edward's study they were greeted by a warm good morning coming from the room. Emily smiled before she opened the door that had already been ajar. "You're already up, good morning."

"Good morning to you too, darling. Did you sleep well?" Edward asked while he got up and folded the paper he had been reading previously. He hugged Emily tightly, happy that his daughter was in such a good mood, which was not something he wasn't used too. He knew that he too had made a lot of mistakes when Emily was growing up. He was working long hours and mostly he stayed in the states while Elizabeth and Emily were living wherever Elizabeth's work as an ambassador took her. It hadn't been perfect but honestly he still believed that it was what kept their marriage alive. If Elizabeth and he had been together day in and day out they would have thrown in the towel years ago.

"Let's see where your mother is, I'm sure that she's controlling one thing or another somewhere." At that moment his eyes fell upon JJ who was standing in the hallway with Henry placed on her hip. "Good morning, Jayje. Did you sleep well?" The older man asked with a genuine smile while he gave her a hug as well, greeted him back. "Henry, my man what do you think? Will your moms let you try out that sled before you leave to visit your other grandma and grandpa?" Edward asked the small child, already slipping into the role of a grandfather.

Henry's face lit up while he nodded his head; "Yes, yes! Now?" He exclaimed happily.

"No, sweetie first it's breakfast and then you and Emily's father can go outside and try out your present. How does that sound? I bet that you're hungry, because I can hear your stomach growling."

Henry rolled his eyes and sighed heavily, which made all the adults around him laugh. It was something he had been doing a lot lately; Emily and JJ had both blaming the other for teaching him the eye-role.

Their breakfast didn't last long, Henry had been too eager to get outside into the snow. Emily warned her father that he could expect to be treated to a shower of snowballs if he didn't keep his eye on Henry. Since that had been his favourite thing to do ever since Emily taught him how to make the perfect snowball.

The older Prentiss man shrugged it off; "Wouldn't be the first time I would get hit by a snowball, now would it?"

Emily smiled innocently at her father, there weren't many moments of her youth that she was very fond of but on a snowy day her father and she had built a snowman, including the coals for a mouth and eyes and a carrot for a nose. It was one of the most valued memories of her youth she had.

"Will you be okay dealing with Henry while Emily and I get our things together and pack up the car for the drive to my parents?" JJ asked Emily's father while she made sure that Henry was bundled up in his warm winter coat, mittens a scarf and a beanie.

"We'll be fine, won't we Henry?" Edward asked the small child while he pulled on his own coat.

It didn't take long to pack their bags and to make sure that everything was placed in the car and they were basically ready to go. When Emily and JJ returned to the house she was surprised to find her mother standing in the door opening with a smile on her face while she watched her husband and Henry running around in the snow. The little boy was squealing loudly but Edward's smile was just as contagious.

"Mommy, mama! Help, help!" Henry screamed while he ran towards them hoping to find a safe haven while Edward ran after him with a snowball in each hand. The brunette had honestly never seen her father this into a game. The two women smiled at each other before they joined in on the game. It didn't take long before Henry was getting tired from all the running around. Elizabeth called them inside; Maria had prepared hot chocolate milk for everyone along with cookies.

After a short break Emily and JJ had to get on the road if they wanted to arrive at the Jareau house in East Alleghany in the afternoon. For the first time in her life Emily felt comfortable when she hugged her mother goodbye. She couldn't have been more surprised when her mother asked her to call her to let her know that they had arrived safely in East Alleghany. For thirty something years her mother had never really bothered to ask where she was or if she was safe but last night something had changed, no one could deny that. She promised her mother that she would while JJ put Henry in his car seat and Edward placed the sled on the back seat next to him since there was no other place to fit it in the car.

JJ thanked both Edward as well as Elizabeth and took her seat in the car. Emily hugged her parents once more before she took place behind the wheel. Soon they were on their way towards East Allegheny with Henry asleep in the car seat completely exhausted.

"This was not what I expected." JJ spoke softly, she watched the brunette next to her intensely. "Not at all."

"I know." The profiler confirmed; "I know I can hardly believe it myself. Better late than never, right?"

JJ wasn't sure what she could say to that. She herself had never had to deal with anything like that. "It's a good thing though, right?"

"I guess, but it'll depend on how long it'll last." The brunette mumbled.

"I think that something really changed. She stood up for you, defended you for everyone to see, people who are important to her that says a lot. Maybe it had to do with the fact that she saw us together, maybe she realised that it is love and that it doesn't matter that it is between two women."

"I don't know, Jayje. I guess I'll have to see it to believe it."

JJ watched Emily intensely but she didn't say a word. She wasn't sure if there was something she could say in this situation after all she barely knew Emily's parents or knew about the relationship between Emily and them. Since her own relationship with her own parents was so different she had nothing to say. The two sat in silence for a while, both lost in their own thoughts while the radio played songs, it didn't take long before both sung along.

The roads were busy, everyone was driving home to reach their family for the Christmas days and it took them much longer to reach their destination than it usually would, but neither of them minded much. They had expected that it would take a longer time to get to East Alleghany.

Emily and JJ had switched half way through the drive and it was JJ who parked the car in front of her parents' home right next to her father's car, and it didn't take long before her parents to notice their arrival. The door opened as soon as the car turned onto the driveway and JJ's mother was waving at them. She was standing in the doorway with her special 'Christmas' apron on. She was probably already halfway through her preparations for the Christmas dinner, JJ couldn't remember seeing her mother differently on Christmas. She was always wearing that apron, and the house always smelled delicious - well it always did when her mother cooked a meal but around the Holidays it was always something special.

Before they even had a chance to get out of the car William stood in the door opening as well. After greeting each other Emily and William emptied the car while Mary and JJ fussed over Henry. It was cold outside and everyone quickly made their way into the house, once inside the warm and welcoming family home was decked out with Christmas ornaments. Music was playing in the living room and as expected the delicious aromas of the Christmas meal were hanging in the air.

As soon as Emily placed the last bag on the floor in the hallway she was enveloped in a hug by JJ's mother. The older Jareau woman embraced Emily; "It's so good to see you again my dear."

"It's really good to see you as well. I've missed you." The profiler smiled and hugged JJ's mom back.

"Emily, believe me when I say that feeling is mutual." The older woman smiled at the brunette and let her go.

JJ's father placed a hand on Emily's shoulder and smiled at her; "She's right, you know." He replied with a genuine smile nodding at his wife. He nodded his head and turned around to take Henry from his daughter. "Hey little man, it's so good to see you again. Did mommy and Emily take you outside in the snow?"

"Yes, and I got a schl.. a sled!" Henry looked at his mom for confirmation after she pronounced the word for him he mimicked her, when she nodded he added the last word with a large smile on his face.

"A sled, really?" William Jareau asked with a smile. "Did mommy and Emily give it to you?"

"No, mama's mommy and daddy gave it to me they gots it from Santa." Henry explained to his grandfather happily.

"Mama, can we go outside?" Henry asked obviously directing his question towards Emily.

The brunette's face turned a deep shade of red - since JJ's parents didn't know that Henry started calling her 'mama' and she was feeling a little bit uncomfortable with the whole situation. But neither Mary nor William seemed to take notice or at least they didn't question it. Emily tried to recover as quickly as possible; "Oh ... ehm Henry I can't. I promised your grandma that I would help her cook dinner." It wasn't often that Emily denied Henry something but this time she had no choice, especially since Mary had already started making dinner since Emily had to change their initial plans for which the brunette already felt guilty.

"Oh Emily, I understand if you want to go outside with Henry." Mary quickly said knowing that the profiler would never want to deny the little boy anything.

"No, that's alright, I think that Jayje and maybe Grandpa would like to join Henry while I help you in here. Doesn't that sound like an awesome plan, Henry?" The brunette smiled when she saw both JJ and William nod eagerly. The brunette got on her knees and made sure that Henry had her full attention while she explained to him why she couldn't go outside with him to play in the snow. Mary had already made her way back to the kitchen to check on the stove and the oven to make sure that everything was still on schedule. "I promise you that there will be more than enough time for the both of us to play outside in the snow together this week. But I promised your grandma that I would help her and you know that I always keep my promises."

"But mama, you have to go outside with me later." Henry moved closer to the brunette and whispered loudly in her ear; "I want to throw snowballs at mommy and grampy!"

"Ahh, and you need my help?" Emily whispered back just as loudly, which made everyone around them smirk especially when Henry clapped his hands and nodded his head eagerly. "Okay, deal. I'll help you later! But if it's too late after dinner than we will do it tomorrow okay?" She held up her hand and Henry slapped it hard.

"A promise is a promise." He replied matter-of-factly.

"Yes. A promise is a promise." Emily confirmed before she ruffled his hair and got up, she made her way to the kitchen. When she passed JJ she leaned in to give her a quick peck on the lips. The blonde however had different plans and pulled the brunette closer; "Are you setting my own son up against me? That's not really fair now is it?"

The brunette grinned broadly before commenting; "Why Jayje, I don't know what you're talking about. I would never do such a thing."

"Of course you wouldn't, dear." The blonde replied with a smile of her own. "I guess we'll see what happens next time we're all outside in the snow."

"I guess we will." Emily answered with a smile before she made her way into the kitchen. "Mary, I'm all yours." The profiler said with a smile to the older Jareau woman.

"Oh, Emily dear, you can go outside with Henry there is no need to help me. I'm used to preparing the Christmas dinner." The older Jareau woman said with a smile after she'd watched the whole interaction between Henry and Emily.

"No Mary, I meant what I said to Henry, I want to keep my promises. I have already made you change plans on my behalf, the least I can do is keep my promise and help you cook this elaborate meal. Which smells absolutely incredible."

"If you're sure." Mary answered with a smile.

"Yes Mary, I'm sure. Besides I think that it's important to teach a child that they won't get everything they want when they want it." The brunette explained to the older woman.

"That is an important lesson to learn for a child." Mary and Emily worked side by side for a while in a comfortable silence.

The older Jareau woman had already done most of the preparations. And since Emily and she had already talked about the menu multiple times they both knew what they had to do. It had been a while since either one of them had spoken when Mary wiped her hands dry on a towel and made her way towards the front window in the living room. She was standing right next to the large Christmas tree.

Jennifer's mother was gazing outside the window with a smile on her face. She stood there while she watched her husband, daughter and grandson play in the snow. She laughed lightly when she saw Henry's antics the moment one of his sloppily thrown snowballs hit the intended target by sheer luck. "Emily, come see." Mary spoke up while she watched her daughter's partner who was still standing in the middle of the kitchen. The brunette wiped her hands clean on the towel as well and joined the older woman at the window.

"It's his new favourite game, probably because we won't allow him to throw his toys around the house." The profiler smiled.

"It's an age thing. At a certain age all kids want to throw their things around the house as hard as they can."

"Oh yes, he's certainly there. He loves it when his cars bump against the furniture or against each other. Preferably as hard and as loudly as possible and all of his action figures have to fight." Emily rolled her eyes; sometimes she really wondered where Henry got these ideas from.

"Boys will be boys, I can't speak from experience of course when it comes to this but I remember hearing mothers complain about this when Amelia and Jennifer were younger. That by the way doesn't mean that girls don't know how to roughhouse, you don't want to know how many times we had to visit a doctor. Concussions, bruises and contusions were normal in this house, especially when they both started playing soccer." Mary smiled reminiscing the time when her two girls were small children.

She remembered having them running around in the snow much like her grandson was doing right now. These were the pleasant memories of her children's youth nowadays though every pleasant moment was overshadowed by the loss of her eldest daughter. A pain in her heart that never quite went away, especially because it had been so unexpected and because she never knew what really had been going through Amelia's head at the time she made that tragic decision. Sometimes there were mornings when she woke up were she believed that it had all just been a haunting nightmare, that was until that dreadful moment were she woke up completely. What she wouldn't give to see her eldest daughter again especially at times like these. She couldn't help but reminisce. She swallowed hard and looked up at the profiler next to her who was staring straight ahead. This was the first time that anyone besides JJ had talked about Amelia and even though the house was filled with pictures of a young JJ and her older sister no one ever talked about it. Therefore Emily wasn't sure how to react to the acknowledgement of the older Jareau woman.

She did the only thing that she could do at that particular moment. She wrapped one of her arms around the older woman who was not quite as tall as she was and hugged her close to her own body. The older woman smiled at her, tears were evident in her eyes but she wouldn't allow them to cascade down her cheeks. This was supposed to be a happy time, it was Christmas after all.

Mary brushed her fingers along her eyes to dry her tears before she started to talk; "You've been good for JJ and Henry, she's never been happier than she is right now with you."

"Thank you, but they are the ones who have been good for me." Emily replied with a smile towards the older woman.

"Henry's calling you mama, that says a lot."

Emily blushed deeply; she never really knew how to react to that comment whenever anyone mentioned it. "He does." She answered softly.

"That's a wonderful thing, something to be proud of. And well ... you don't seem like the type of person who would ever ask my grandson to call her a certain name if not your given-name, Emily." The older woman still stared outside while she spoke; "So if he calls you mama that must mean that in his eyes you act and behave like a mommy does or he would not call you that. So no matter how many times you say that you're the lucky one in this relationship I know for a fact that my daughter and my grandson are lucky as well." She smiled and turned back towards the kitchen; "Let's finish this so we can enjoy this marvellous meal with our family."

Emily remained standing in front of the window for a little while longer before she joined Mary in the kitchen. Tears of utter happiness stung in her eyes while she watched her family - she loved that word, family. Just a year ago she would have laughed if someone had told her where and with whom she would spend her Christmas. Just a year ago, she'd been alone with no prospect of changing that in the near future. And now she had spent Christmas with her own parents and with JJ, Henry and JJ's parents.

"So Emily, how was the Charity Event last night?" Mary asked, she'd been interested in the subject since she knew that Emily didn't have the type of relationship she had with her own daughter. But neither Emily nor JJ had given any indication of how the Charity Event went and her own curiosity was winning at this point.

"Interesting." The profiler answered.

"Really?"

"Yes." Emily smiled while she chopped some of the vegetables in small parts; she bit her lip and thought for a minute before she continued. "Yes, interesting would be the right word."

"Do you want to tell me why 'interesting' is the right word?"

"Sure." The brunette smiled, it all still seemed a little bit unreal. "Yesterday afternoon I drove us to the Prentiss Mansion, where the Charity Event would be held later that night. My father had insisted that we would have dinner first before the Event started; to say the least my mother wasn't very pleased. Which caused it to be a very uncomfortable situation. Later that night however one of my mother's long time family friends - an Ambassador like her and usually a very generous man, money-wise - had some complaints about my relationship with Jennifer. He made some rude comments which Jayje luckily didn't hear because she had left the room to go check on Henry. But I couldn't allow him to talk about her like that, I wanted to go over there and set this guy straight because I figured that if I didn't do it no one would. So imagine my shock when it was my mother who stepped up for me, my mother who gave him a piece of her mind and then told him to leave and never come back! So yes 'interesting' would be the right word. In fact it is the only word that makes sense at this point. I guess I still haven't processed it completely."

"That sure is an interesting change of heart. Let's hope that it stays that way, because every daughter should have a good relationship with their mother." The older Jareau woman stated with a smile. She reached forward and grabbed the bottle of wine from the counter; she poured the dark red liquid into two glasses. She handed one to Emily and smiled, they clinked their glasses and both took a sip before they returned to their tasks.

It didn't take long before three shivering covered in snow family members stumbled into the house. Mary Jareau couldn't help but tell them to leave their shoes on the doormat and hang the wet coats over the kitchen chairs. As soon as JJ released Henry he came running into the kitchen with a cheeky grin on his face.

"Hey buddy, did you have fun?"

"Yeah! It was super cool!" He exclaimed happily.

"Well he's right about that, it was super cool." JJ said while she stepped into the kitchen still shivering.

"Oh baby, come here." Emily replied with a smile while she pulled the blonde closer. She wrapped her arms around the shivering blonde, she ran her hands up and down her back in hopes that it would warm up the younger woman. Mary kissed her husband and prepared a couple of mugs with chocolate milk and marshmallows.

Once everyone was warmed up it didn't take long before they found their way towards the large table in the back of the living room, which Emily and Mary filled with the food they prepared together. The delicious smells had filled the house hours before but seeing all the food decked out on the table in front of them was even better.

Emily and JJ were sitting side by side across from Mary, William and Henry - who insisted that he wanted to sit between his grandparents. At first JJ had tried to get him to sit besides her because he still needed some help with his dinner. Her mother had scolded her telling her that William and she would be perfectly capable to help Henry. After all they had raised children, and even though it was some time ago they still knew how to handle these situations. Emily had laughed when JJ's mom set her straight, while the blonde coloured a deep shade of red before agreeing with her mother.

So Henry was seated between his grandparents with a huge smile on his face, on his head he was wearing a Santa hat which Garcia had given him earlier in the week - he'd been proudly wearing it whenever he could. The little kid dug into the food that his grandmother placed on his plate, though it didn't take long before he was fed up with the fancy dinner. He slipped off his chair and crawled underneath the table before he made his leap for the living room where he'd left his toy cars earlier. The adults watched him leave but neither one of them said anything; after all he was just a little kid.

After dinner, JJ and William insisted that they would take care of the clutter in the kitchen since Mary and Emily had prepared everything. According to them it was only fair if they would do the clean-up. Mary and Emily gave in quickly and made their way to the comfortable couches in the living room. However it didn't take long before Emily sunk down on the floor leaning against the couch with her back while she took a seat next to Henry. He smiled at her and handed her one of his toy cars.

The two of them were quickly engaged in their games and Mary stood up and left the room for the kitchen. But as soon as she stepped inside she was send away by her daughter. The older Jareau woman quickly returned to the living room but not before she grabbed the bottle of wine and two already cleaned glasses. She placed them on the table and filled them; "Here you go, honey." Mary said while she placed the glass in front of Emily on the table.

"Thank you." She reached up and took a sip from the glass. The older woman nodded her head and smiled at her before she returned her attention to her grandson. Soon thereafter William and JJ returned to the living room. The blonde motioned to the brunette to move a little bit forward, she sat down on the couch behind Emily and leaned forward. She kissed the brunette on the top of her head before she leaned backwards on the couch to get comfortable.

"How about we unwrap some of Santa's presents?" William said while he sat down on the couch looking around at the other adults present in the room. Yet Henry was the one who jumped up yelling loudly. Emily grabbed a hold of the small boy and pulled him onto her lap, which instantly silenced him; "Buddy, keep it down a bit! Will you?"

"But Grampy said that we would open the presents!"

"I know, I know but you don't have to scream." Emily tried to reprimand him, but failed miserably when she couldn't contain her laughter.

"But it's presents, mama!" Henry said with his hands raised up in innocence. The other adults erupted in laughter which only increased when JJ added her two cents to the situation.

"Yes, mama! It's presents!" JJ replied with a grin on her face, which caused everyone to join in on the laughter.

"Oh right, so the two of you choose to gang up on me! Is that how it is?" Emily exclaimed in mock shock.

JJ's hands slipped onto Emily's shoulders pulling her close; "Yes, that is how it is but you'll love us anyway."

"Well, I guess I can't argue with that." Emily gave in while she let go of Henry.

The boy immediately turned around and looked up at Emily; "Can we please open presents now, mama?" Henry asked with a trademark 'Jareau' pout.

"Okay, okay. I give up." Emily said while she threw her hands up in surrender. Both JJ and Henry raised their hands and screamed happily which caused Emily to roll her eyes much to the amusement of the grandparents.

William stood up and made his way to the Christmas tree in the corner of the room, he retrieved one of the presents and made his way back to the couch. He opened the card and glanced at the name; "This one's for Henry. You're a lucky boy the first present is for you." He handed the present to his grandson who'd gotten up from Emily's lap. He quickly took it and got back to Emily who was still sitting on the floor, he sat down on her lap and started to pull the paper from the present. As soon as Henry unwrapped the paper a squeal erupted from his throat.

One present after another got unwrapped, the living room floor was covered in pieces of wrapping paper and discarded boxes for different presents. Most of them were of course for Henry, but in the end everyone got something.

JJ told her parents about the weekend away which Emily's parents had gotten them and the Jareau's immediately offered to watch Henry for them. To which the two of them quickly agreed. It didn't take long before all the presents were unwrapped and Henry fell asleep on Emily's lap. JJ asked a couple of times if Emily wanted her to bring Henry to bed, but the brunette declined.

JJ's hands found Emily's shoulders, without thinking about it she started to massage the tight muscles underneath her fingers. Early on in their relationship she had noticed how tense Emily was, she'd made it her mission to get the brunette to relax. And even now the profiler's shoulders were still tense. The blonde leaned forward and put more pressure behind her touches. Henry was still leaning against Emily's chest, still asleep. JJ was talking with her parents while Emily silently enjoyed the neck-massage which the blonde was giving her.

"So did you two finally tell your friends about your relationship?" Mary asked, she didn't get why two people who were so in love refused to tell their friends about it. Sure she understood that there could be repercussions because they worked on the same team but she believed that love concurs all.

Emily's eyes shot open at the sudden and unexpected question from the older Jareau woman. The rapid jerk of her body almost woke Henry up, for a second she didn't dare to move or breath to see if he would continue sleeping or if he was going to wake up. The boy however snuggled against Emily and continued to sleep.

"Ehm ... no. We didn't." JJ admitted, suddenly she felt very uncomfortable. She had expected this question sooner rather than later but she hadn't expected her mother to bring it up this soon. She had expected it because her mother had been asking her about it whenever they talked to each other on the phone, usually JJ avoided answering the questions.

"Why? They are your friends, right? Your family away from home, that's what you call them, right?" William asked his daughter, it was obvious in his eyes that he didn't get how JJ and Emily could claim that they saw their friends as family and not as co-workers and yet they kept a secret like this from them. Something which in his eyes shouldn't be a secret.

"Because ..." JJ sighed in defeat, she honestly had no answer for her parents; "I don't know. At first we didn't tell them because we wanted to see were our relationship would go without the added pressure of four profilers and one quirky tech's eyes on us twenty-four seven. But we're fine, right?"

"More than fine, we're perfect." Emily said with a broad smile on her face, she reached her hand up and grabbed JJ's hand. She craned her neck and looked up at the blonde.

"Then why are the two of you still keeping your relationship a secret?" Mary asked; "Doesn't that add more pressure to your relationship, if you have to hide it from your friends who you work with often day and night?"

"No matter if we tell them or when we tell them, we'll always have to hide our feelings at work. So it'll always be a secret in a way." Emily reasoned; "We'll have to keep it all under wraps, if not because of the fraternization rules then we'll have to hide it from Strauss. She's always looking for a reason to tear our team apart."

"Maybe you'll have to hide it when you're doing your job, but at least you don't have to hide it when you're having dinner together while you're on a case or when you're on the plane." Mary reasoned with her daughter and the woman who her daughter cared for so deeply.

"We know we have to tell them. We also know that we can't wait much longer because we know that Derek knows that something is going on. He might not know exactly what's going on but he certainly has a hunch. Poor Garcia, he tried to get the information out of her."

"Sweethearts you have to tell them. It's been what, a year almost? You're living together, Henry's calling Emily mama. You can't wait any longer." After having said those words the older woman got up and took her glass to the kitchen. JJ's father followed his wife and soon it was just JJ and Emily, and a sleeping Henry who was still resting comfortable against Emily's chest.

The blonde rubbed her eyes, it wasn't late but she was tired. "Let's go to bed." JJ tried to stop a yawn, but she was unsuccessfully.

The brunette smiled; "Yes, let's do that. I think that we can all use a little bit extra sleep." Emily shifted Henry's weight around a bit to get a better grip on the small child.

"Let me take him." JJ said while she moved to the side of the couch so she could get up and take Henry from Emily.

"I got him." The brunette answered while she pushed herself up on the couch with her free hand - which was a little bit more difficult than usual with the added weight of the little boy in her arms. JJ tried to step in but Emily just smiled at her and told her that she could do it. The blonde sighed and nodded her head in disbelief.

Nevertheless she got up and picked up the glasses from the table to bring them to the kitchen before she started to disconnect the Christmas lights in the tree and blow out all the candles which were placed around the living room. Meanwhile Emily carried Henry upstairs where she carefully placed him on his bed and started to undress him. At one point Henry woke up a little which made it easier to get his pj's on, but he was soon back to sleep again. By the time JJ arrived upstairs the little boy was off to dreamland again.

The blonde kissed her son on the top of his head and adjusted the bedding around him. She pulled the door close behind her but not before she placed the nightlight in the socket. It didn't take either one of them long to get ready for bed and soon they too were asleep.

**AN: Longest chapter yet, let me know what you think!**


	41. Chapter 41

******AN:I'm pretty sure that no one here expected this to happen but yes, this is actually a new chapter!  
**

******Sometimes life takes you for a spin and everything else has to stay on a hold for a while. My life has been extremely busy and I am pretty sure that you're not really interested in all of that – boring details – so I won't bore you with them. But I wanted all of you to know that appreciate the fact that you take the time to read my tale, so this is a thank you to each and everyone of you.**

******I have no excuse at all, it's been way too long. I'm sorry! I hope that you will enjoy this chapter nevertheless.**

******Chapter 41**

JJ woke up, early the next morning. Ever since she had Henry she was used to getting up early because he sure had a different schedule than she did. She used to love to sleep in late whenever she could, but a lot changes when you have a baby depending on you to feed him and to care for him. And now more than ever before it seemed harder to sleep late, even on mornings like these when she had literally all the time in the world to wake up she was an early riser.

She brushed a strand of hair out of Emily 's face and watched the brunette for a while. It was obvious that she was still in a deep sleep. She was always amazed by the relaxed expression on Emily 's face. She hoped that in the future she would be able to see that same expression on Emily's face more and more. Especially now that they had been at the Charity Event. Which went better than expected, the relationship with her mother had turned around in a positive way for the first time in forever. If only they were able to figure out how and when to tell every one else.

She sighed, but a small smile was playing on her lips. Morgan knew, she was sure of it and she wouldn't be surprised if both Rossi and Hotch did as well. They were profilers after all, the belonged to the best in the world too – there was no way they hadn't figured it out. Honestly, how long did they think they could fool them? None of their team members had probably said anything to give them a chance to come clean whenever they felt sure enough about their relationship to reveal it. She knew that neither one of them would say anything if she or Emily didn't start that particular conversation first.

And since neither she nor Emily had started that particular conversation, she couldn't blame them for not saying anything. They were giving them their space and time to figure everything out and come clean with them. JJ smiled and pushed herself up on her elbows while she checked her alarm clock. She quietly slipped out of bed. She got dressed in silence, and descended the stairs after she checked on Henry - who was still asleep in his room. The second she set foot on the ground floor she could hear sounds coming from the kitchen, she wasn't surprised in the slightest. Her parents we're always early birds, even now that they were both retired and didn't have to be up so early they still kept that habit. When she grew up she'd always hated getting up early in the morning, like any normal teenager would have. Nowadays however with a child of her own, she found herself standing on the other side of the line. And her own parents were the people who were surprised to see her up this early.

"Jennifer? Good morning." Mary quirked her brow when she saw her daughter standing in the kitchen this early in the morning.

"Good morning mom. Please, don't act so surprised." JJ spoke with a smile, while she rolled her eyes. William grinned while he filled another mug with coffee and handed it to his daughter who took a seat on one of the stools at the kitchen counter.

"It's just past eight. Mind you, I am just not used to seeing you up this early in the morning." Mary answered with a smile to match.

"Try sleeping in with a three year old, I guarantee you that it's nearly impossible."

"Well sweetheart, we had our fair share of sleepless mornings when the two of you were little." William answered with a grin while he sat down next to his daughter.

"Right blame me, but those days have been long gone. And the two of you always got up at an ungodly hour even when I left for college." JJ pointed out with a mischievous grin on her face. "And by the looks of it you still do."

Meanwhile upstairs Henry woke up, he rubbed his eyes and noticed that the daylight creeping through the curtains, he crawled out of his bed and quickly moved towards the door. He shivered in the cold while he struggled to reach the door knob and opened the door. As quickly as his little legs could carry him he made his way down the hallway. And pushed the door open to the room where JJ and Emily spend the night. In his mommies old room, she told him that it used to be her room when she was little.

He smiled when he noticed that Emily was still asleep. He quickly made his way over to the bed. He pulled himself up and crawled under the blankets, he pushed his small body against Emily 's sleeping form and sighed contently before he fell asleep again while her body heat radiated and warmed him. The brunette subconsciously adjusted her position, she smiled subconsciously but continued to sleep.

It had been at least an hour or two since JJ got up before she realized that neither Emily nor Henry had made an appearance downstairs. She'd been talking with her parents which had made sure that time ticked away while she was blissfully unaware. That was until now, her eyes absentmindedly crossed the clock. In fact they hadn't heard a single sound coming from the upstairs. JJ suddenly got up and made her way out of the kitchen, her mother looked up in confusion when her daughter left in the middle of their conversation. She followed JJ up the stairs, thinking that JJ had heard something which she had missed.

The blond opened the door to her old bedroom and stood in the door opening with a huge smile on her face. Her mother quickly moved behind her and glanced inside the room. A smile broke on her face the second she noticed what her daughter was smiling about. Emily and Henry where lying on the bed, close together. Emily had subconsciously wrapped her arm around the small child and pulled him into her embrace. Both of them still appeared to be sound asleep.

"Jennifer, did you hear Henry move from his room to your room?" Mary Jareau asked her daughter in a whisper.

"No, I just realized that usually both Emily and Henry would have been up by now. I happened to look up at the clock and noticed what time it was, it just surprised me. Especially with Christmas and his presents I had expected him to be up at the crack of dawn - honestly even before that." Jennifer explained to her mother who nodded in agreement.

"Yes, I kind of expected that as well, you two never allowed us any peace when it was Christmas morning." Mary admitted, she had been kind of surprised that Henry had still been asleep when she checked in on him when she got up a little while before Jennifer came downstairs. Especially since Jennifer had told her once or twice that Henry was an early bird, just like them. Mary nodded at Emily and Henry who were still asleep; "But that exactly shows you why he calls Emily mama, it's so cute. The two of them really bonded. You're lucky, Jennifer it's hard to find someone who's as open and into Henry as she is. I am so glad that you two have found each other and that you have tried to manage this relationship even though it could cause problems for the both of you at work. That however doesn't take away that I think that the two of you should open up to your colleagues. They really seem like the kind of people who wouldn't care if this is controversial or strange that you have found each other after being best friends for so long. They will love you both just as much and I am sure that they will stand behind you if it causes any troubles with your boss."

"Oh, mom!" JJ replied rolling her eyes at her mother, she got where her mother was coming from; "The problem isn't so much our team or Hotch for that matter, it Strauss. She's always trying to find a way to drive us apart. I've been offered several jobs outside of the BAU which she recommended me for, I didn't ask nor search for a different job. I love what I do. She's tried to get Emily to spy on our team - which Emily refused to do - in order for her to find juice on Hotch to get him out of the way. Emily refused, she even handed in her badge. Our team is not what we're worried about, it's the consequences it might have on our team."

"Nevertheless you can't keep them in the dark any longer." She lightly placed her hand on Jennifer's arm.

The blond turned towards her mother; "I know. Being with her feels so incredibly good, we are a family in every sense of the word and there is nothing she wouldn't do for us and the same goes for me. I can't help but feel like coming out to Strauss will change everything, not just at our job but also at home. Especially if one of us has to leave the team. We've both said that we would do it, but I guess that deep in our hearts we are both afraid to actually take that step." Jennifer admitted softly to her mother. "I guess I'm ... we're just scared."

"Jennifer, sweetheart. Emily and you are stronger than her, don't let someone like that dictate your life for you. You deserve to be happy and you deserve to be able to talk about your personal life with your friends at work if you wish to do so without being worried about getting caught."

JJ didn't respond, she leaned against the door frame and watched Emily and Henry. There was nothing she could say, her mother was right, as usual. Mary left her daughter standing there in silence and retreated back downstairs where she sat down next to her husband on the couch.

William had been reading a book while his wife and daughter talked. He looked up at her and smiled, his wife returned his smile before she averted her eyes to the Christmas tree.

Emily stirred, she rubbed her eyes and turned onto her back. Her eyes fell on JJ who was still leaning against the door frame. The brunette smiled instantly which was quickly returned. "You look awfully awake." Emily asked, her voice nothing more than a whisper because she didn't want to wake Henry up.

"That's because I've been awake for quite a while, actually a couple of hours." JJ replied with a smile while she made her way over to the bed. The blond sat down next to Emily on the edge of the bed and leaned down to kiss her.

"How come you've been up for so long?"

The blond shrugged in reply; "No reason, I just couldn't sleep and neither you nor Henry were awake. So I went downstairs and talked with my parents."

"You could have woken me up."

"I know, I could have but you looked so content. I couldn't just wake you up because I was awake. You looked like you needed your sleep." The blond smiled.

"Right, and you didn't?" The brunette asked the blond.

"Well yeah, I needed it but you know how it is, once I'm awake I just need my coffee and I'm fine."

"Uhuh , I know." The brunette pushed herself up from her spot next to Henry - who was still sleeping - and got off the bed. "I'll be right back." She said with a smile to the blond before she left the room. She returned just minutes later, Henry was now awake - he'd crawled into his mother's lap, his thumb stuck in his mouth, his hair was sticking out in all directions. She started to pick out some clothes, under JJ's watchful eye.

"You know you better dress up warm. Because you promised Henry that you we're going outside with him today and from experience I know that it's very cold outside in the snow especially when everything gets soaked with ice cold snow." JJ smiled cheekily and watched Henry who besides her finally started to wake up; "And since he had a really good and long night sleep I am sure that it'll take a long time before his batteries are depleted."

"Don't remind me, I haven't had my coffee yet." Emily answered with a grin on her face before she picked out a warm turtleneck sweater and a pair of jeans before she returned to the bathroom. Meanwhile JJ got Henry to wake up completely and helped him to get dressed.

Like JJ had predicted Henry remembered soon enough that Emily had promised to go outside with him to play in the snow. He was barely halfway through his sandwich when he remembered it and he loudly broad it to everyone's attention. A groan escaped from Emily 's mouth before she could stop it - she had just arrived downstairs from her shower and was in the kitchen pouring herself a mug of coffee. The other adults laughed at Henry and Emily 's reaction before they all started to give Henry different kind of ideas for a long, long day out in the snow. But what JJ and her parents didn't know was that Emily had a plan of her own.

The brunette sat down at the table and smiled at Henry; "You better make sure that you eat your breakfast because you can't be hungry once we go out there."

Once they all finished their breakfast Emily stepped outside of the house and came back inside with a backpack. When JJ asked her about it the brunette smiled and shrugged; "It's a surprise." Was all she revealed while she got down on her knees and called Henry over to her side. She helped him step into his snow boots and wrapped his scarf around his neck. She held his coat up in front of him which Henry eagerly pulled it on. JJ meanwhile pulled his beanie over his blond head and smiled at Emily while she did the same to her.

Emily got up from her knees and looked down at Henry, all bundled up; "Are you warm?" She asked him with a smile. Henry nodded and smiled back. "Can you still move around?" Emily asked trying to judge the movement in his bundled up state. Henry giggled and wiggled around much to the amusement of the adults around him. "Well okay then, it looks like we're ready to go." Emily announced while she hoisted the backpack onto her back and ushered Henry to follow her outside where his sled was already waiting for him. "Your chariot awaits you, sir." Emily said with a large grin while she gestured towards the sled. Henry sat down quickly and held onto the sled while Emily bend down to pick up the rope. They waved at JJ, Mary and William and Emily started to pull the sled down the side of the house towards the back were she knew that some small hills would be the perfect scene for a nice sley ride downhill – something which she knew Henry would love.

And he did, Henry loved every second of it, whenever Emily checked behind her to see if he was still sitting safely on the sled she noticed the huge grin on his face. They sung all kind of songs - from regular ones to Christmas songs and back - while they made their way through the more wooded area behind Henry 's grandparents house. She wanted to get to the small lake where the landscape was a little more flowing, perfect for some downhill sled riding. It took them maybe thirty minutes to get to their destination, a time in which Emily had answered a thousand different questions from Henry about basically everything that came to his overactive mind. One minute she was answering a question about Santa Clause and the next minute one about soccer, even though that was more JJ's topic.

"Are we gonna slide down here!" Henry squealed once they arrived at the top of a small hill, clear of any trees and with a lot of space to let the sled run it's course.

"Yes, we will if that is what you'd like to do." Emily asked with a smile while she knelled down besides Henry.

"Yes, please mama. Can we?"

"Sure, but only if you're sure that you aren't scared." Emily wanted to make sure that Henry wasn't scared. Emily dropped the backpack on the ground and made sure that Henry was securely sitting in front of her before she allowed the sled to run down the hill. Henry squealed and laughed all the way down and as soon as they came to a halt, he jumped up and begged Emily to go again. The brunette smiled at him and nodded, time and time again the second they arrived at the bottom of the hill Henry would get back up the hill and jump up and down until - according to him - his mama finally arrived at the top.

Emily allowed him to run ahead of her for the next hour or so before they both eased down on the sled at the top of the hill while Emily pulled her backpack close to her. She opened the bag and pulled out a bag of cookies and a thermos with hot chocolate milk which Mary made for them before they left.

Emily handed a cookie to Henry on which he happily munched and waited patiently until he was done before she handed him a mug with the chocolate milk. Under Emily's watchful eye he drank the chocolate milk while she herself took a bite from her own cookie. "Has your mommy ever told you that she used to go ice skating on the pond down there?" Emily asked while she pointed in the direction of the ice covered water.

"Yes, grandma showed me pictures on the wall in the staircase."

"You're right." Emily answered remembering the pictures that hung along the stairs in his grandparents house. A couple of pictures of JJ, Amelia and their parents ice skating in the winter when JJ was about five years old. Emily smiled, while she thought about the cute pink hat, pink scarf and pink coat that JJ was wearing. A typical little girl, such a difference with the way she had been when she was younger. "Would you like to learn how to skate?"

"Like mommy?" Henry asked.

"Yes, like mommy and like me. I know how to skate too."

"Really?"

"Yes, really. So what do you think, would you like to learn it?"

"Yes! When?"

Emily opened her bag again and pulled out a small size ice skates and held them out for Henry to see; "How about now?" She asked with a smile.

"Cool!" Henry exclaimed with a grin. "Are they for me?"

Emily compared the small size ice skate to her own snow-boots; "Well, even though I really like these I am pretty sure that they won't fit me." She pulled Henry's foot up and compared the ice skate to his snow-boot; "That seems to be a much better fit, doesn't it." She joked much to Henry 's pleasure.

"They are for me." He confirmed with a delighted grin.

"Of course they are! Okay, how about we call mommy and ask her to join us but we don't tell her that we'll be ice skating too. It'll be a surprise. Would you like that?"

"Yes! Can I call?"

"Sure, but don't tell her our secret." Emily pulled her phone out of her pocket and dialed JJ's number before she handed her phone to Henry .

"Mommy? Mama says that you should come out to the water ..." Henry scrunched his forehead and turned towards Emily while he bit his lip - in that same way that JJ would bite her lip if she was confused. Emily understood Henry's intention and pronounced the word for him. "Mama says you have to come to the pond and you should bring your ice skates with you."

JJ was talking to her mother when suddenly out of the blue her phone rang. She quickly picked it up from the table and smiled when she saw the picture of Emily and Henry that showed up each time when Emily called her. Her entire face lit up at once before she even answered the call.

A smile that grew only bigger the second she could hear her sons voice over the phone telling her that she should come to the water. She smiled and waited patiently while Henry tried to figure out the right word that was needed instead of 'water'. She could hear Emily 's muffled voice on the other side of the line help Henry.

"You have to come to the pond." Henry repeated after Emily.

"Really now, is that what mama says. Do you think that I should come?" JJ asked her son, teasing him a tad bit before giving in.

"Yes mommy! Yes, you have to, it'll be fun!" Henry squealed on the other side of the line. Emily who had been tying Henry's ice skates quickly responded by gesturing to Henry that he should stop talking. Henry eagerly nodded his head and laid his gloved finger against his lips. Emily repeated the gesture and smiled at him as well. The kid truly was adorable, she loved having these little moments alone with him.

"Okay, but it'll take me some time to get there because I need to find my ice skates first and then walk down to the pond." JJ explained to her son; "Can you tell mommy that?" She patiently waited while she listened to her son explaining what she said to him. He explained it well enough for Emily to understand so JJ told Henry that she loved them and that she would join them as soon as possible before she disconnected the call.

Henry handed the phone back to Emily and smiled at her; "Mommy, will be here soon." He said once again for good measure.

"Okay, so let's get down to the ice. Does that sound like a plan?" Emily asked Henry while she tied the laces on her own skates.

Henry tried to stand up - which was easy to do in the snow - and grinned broadly at Emily. "Stay where you are until I'm ready." Emily said to him while she fixed him a stern look making sure that he would stay in place while she finished up.

"Hurry up, mama!" Henry exclaimed getting more and more excited and eager to get onto the ice. Especially since standing up with the skates on seemed so easy while he was still on the snow.

"Alright, alright hold your horses." The brunette laughed at Henry who actually managed to jump a little with the skates on. She was just happy that if he fell he would fall on a bed of snow which would most likely break his fall.

"Horses?" Henry asked while he looked around confused. "There are no horses here!"

"It's a saying, it just means that you have to be a little bit more patient. As soon as I get these on we can go onto the ice." Emily said while she tied the laces on her ice skates. As soon as she got up she took a hold of Henry 's hand. "We're going to walk towards the ice slowly and when we get there I'll get onto the ice first and than you'll follow me. But be careful because it's really slippery and you might fall."

"Okay, now can we go?" Henry gave Emily that distinctive Jareau eye role while he sighed impatiently.

"Alright, alright! Let's go!" Emily, hand in hand with Henry made her way towards the ice.

Jennifer asked her parents to come with her like she usually did when she was home for Christmas. It was a sort of tradition for them during the Christmas holidays. One she really missed if the ice wasn't thick enough when she visited them during the winter.

"Sure we'll come with you, if you would like us to join you of course." Mary replied just to be sure.

JJ rolled her eyes at her mother's comment. "Of course, mom. I'm so glad that we're here for the holidays and I want to spend time with the two of you and with Emily and Henry. We're family and we spend way too little time as it is."

"Good, I just wanted to make sure, Jennifer. Just let me grab something to eat and we'll be on our way." Mary pulled her daughter close and hugged her to her side, the blond turned into the embrace and wrapped her arms around her mother.

The older Jareau woman kissed her daughter before she moved into the kitchen. She retrieved a box from one of the cabinets and handed it to her daughter, Jennifer couldn't contain her curiosity she lifted the lid and peaked inside. "Jennifer!" Her mother scolded her with a laugh, some things never change no matter how old your kids were or how long ago they left their home. Jennifer grinned cheekily, she had after all literally been caught with her hand in the cookie jar. She placed the box in a backpack and took the thermos her mother handed her, she didn't have to guess what it contained she already knew. They where just finishing up when William returned with three pairs of skates slung over his shoulder. Mary answered with a smile; "William, can you please get our skates? They should be in the closet in the hallway." She asked her husband before she turned her attention back to her daughter.

"Already got them." Jennifer's father answered since he already knew from the start what the plan was it hadn't been hard to guess what was happening. He placed the skates on the floor and started to pull his coat on. JJ and her parents dressed themselves in their warm winter coats, mittens and scarves. They left the house and went on their way towards the clearing where the pond was situated. It took them about twenty minutes to arrive at the clearing. After all they had made that exact same trip to the many times before.

But as soon as JJ's eyes fell upon the ice covered pond a horrified look appeared on her face before she ran down the hill. "Emily Elizabeth Prentiss! Have you completely lost your mind!" the blond exclaimed in horror upon seeing her lover and son standing dead center on the ice.

Unfortunately Emily had been unaware of JJ's arrival, she'd been completely taken by surprise especially since she was teaching Henry how to skate and that was taking up all of her attention. Upon hearing JJ's voice she spun around - unfortunately a little too fast - she lost her balance and landed painfully hard on the ice. Henry who had been standing right in front of her lost his balance, due to her sudden movement as well and to make matters worse he fell on top of her effectively knocking the air from her lungs.

Henry giggled loudly, his fall broken by his mama, Emily however winced in pain. Her air was brutally punched from her lungs a second time when Henry fell on top of her. It took her a minute to recover but as soon as she could she put Henry back on his feet before she herself scrambled back on her feet.

"What the hell, Emily! What if the ice isn't strong enough to hold you both, what if you fell in. What would have happened then?" The blond seemed to be furious, which was a rather exaggerated response if you asked Emily who was completely unaware of the reason behind the anger. An anger that came from a deep rooted fear and rules that had been ingrained on her brain from an early age onwards.

Mary and William kept their distance, it wasn't their battle to fight and they were sure that the two women could manage well on their own. Emily and Henry reached the side of the pond, the brunette tried to calm the blond down to no avail. "Jayje, please."

"Don't Jayje me!" the blond glared at the brunette, she held her arms out and took her son from the brunettes arms - she quickly checked if Henry was okay - before she continued; "tell me what would have happened if you'd gone through the ice, what if you had drowned, what if Henry had drowned? I never pegged you to be irresponsible!"

Emily looked pleadingly at JJ's parents and Mary came closer to them. She gently urged her daughter to hand her grandson to her and stepped away from them.

"Irresponsible? Really Jayje, irresponsible? Is that really what you're calling me?" The brunette was watching the blond with an annoyed look on her face. The comment hurt, but a part of her could understand why JJ reacted that way - albeit a bit overexagerated - she knew that the blond's fear was irrational yet in a way also understandable. "I'm not irresponsible, in fact I called your father almost every day in the last week and asked him to check the ice for me. Because whether you belief it or not this was something I planned. I thought that you would like this ... I saw those pictures on the wall in your parents house and I thought that you would like it if we took the time to teach Henry how to skate. So that maybe one day we can hang pictures like that in our staircase. I thought that you would like that. I'm sorry if that was the wrong assumption." The brunette stopped cautiously onto the snow and made her way to the sled which Henry and she had abandoned in the snow earlier. She sat down and started to undo the laces, maybe it was better if she went back to the house and left JJ to cool down a bit before confronting her about her way of reacting.

JJ sighed and looked up at her parents - who keep kept their distance out of courtesy, both of her parents where tying their ice skates on and they were getting ready to take Henry back out onto the ice and JJ desperately wanted to be there as well. But the blond knew that she had some explaining to do. As soon as her mother took Henry from her she was on her way towards Emily. With a sigh she eased herself down next to the brunette on three sled, she bit her lip and fidgeted with her hands. "Emily, I'm sorry. I know you mean well and I should have never called you irresponsible. Those pictures, they show some of the best moments in my youth. We loved coming out here, but what those pictures don't show is how terribly wrong it almost went... I almost drowned one winter, I was six and Amy and I wanted to go skating and in our opinion our parents were too slow. We were already on the ice before they even reached the tree line, that was also the moment the ice broke underneath my skates. I can still feel the ice cold water.." The blond shivered involuntary; "Amy laid down on the ice - like our father had told us - she was barely able to hold me but she managed to hold on just long enough until my father reached us. It scared us for good, we never came out here during the winter without any adults present while we were kids. And later on when we were older we only came here with a group of friends. You were here alone... alone with Henry, I got so scared when I saw you standing death center on the ice. That is exactly were I went through. I was six and I had my sister who kept me afloat. But if something had happened and you hadn't been able to save yourself both of you would have been emerged by the ice cold water."

Emily had stopped pulling at her laces a long time ago, instead she was listening in awe to the blond. Suddenly everything fell into place, JJ's seemingly anger and worry suddenly made perfect sense, she wasn't just a mother who saw danger everywhere she had a perfectly good reason to be fearful because she had lived through it. On the other hand she hadn't known, the blond had never told her and neither did her parents - they probably thought that their daughter would have mentioned something or maybe they had thought that Jennifer got over her fear since she obviously still loved to go skating during her winter holidays - either way the was nothing she could have done to prevent this because she simply didn't know that there was an issue.

"Jenn, in sorry. I had no idea, I never would have done anything like this had I known this story I wish you'd told me. I wanted to surprise you, instead I manage to fuck up." The brunette sighed in frustration, she moved her gloved hands through her long dark hair.

The blond shivered while she pulled the brunette closer; "You didn't, I'm the one who did. This is important stuff and I should have told you. Em, I'm sorry, I know you meant well. Can we please forget that this happened." The blond hooked her finger underneath the brunettes chin and forced her to look at her; "I love you and I have no right, no right at all to call you irresponsible. I'm sorry." The pain in the blonds eyes made it obvious that she was truly sorry for her reaction and whenever the blond watched her with those big blue eyes the brunette's defenses crumbled within seconds until there was nothing left.

A smile erupted on her face; "Let's just forget all about this and show our boy how to skate." She leaned in and kissed the younger woman, who immediately responded by wrapping her arms around the brunette.

The blond had tears in her eyes when they pulled apart; "I love you."

"Love you too. Now get those skates on and we can finally show off some of our moves." The brunette replied with a smile.

JJ smiled back; "By the way you've been keeping secrets from me... you never told me that you knew how to skate but that looked pretty gracefully."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure falling flat on my ass looked incredibly graceful!" Her tone of voice couldn't have been more sarcastic if she'd wanted too.

"Well you are right, that didn't look so hot but I sure saw some potential."

"Potential huh! I'm gonna show you potential." Emily bend over and started to tie her laces.

She got up and watched the blond impatiently, when JJ was finally done she reached out her hand and pulled her up and retrieved her ice skates from the side of the ice where she'd dropped them when she first arrived at the pond. She quickly got her ready and within minutes they joined William, Mary and Henry on the ice.

As with any type of vacation this one also went by way too quickly and it was time for them to go back home. Before they knew it they were running around the house gathering their belongings while William and Mary spend their last couple of precious minutes with their grandson promising him that they would visit them in DC soon.

In the past week Emily and JJ had spend one night out in Pittsburgh at a fancy restaurant and a club while most of the other time was spend either chasing after Henry on the ice or down the snowy slopes. Henry really learned quickly how to skate and besides that he didn't seem afraid to fall either, most of the times before anyone could get to him he was back on his feet again. Both JJ and Emily as well as JJ's parents were surprised by his abilities.

Nevertheless the day had come, the car was packed and JJ and Emily were ready to leave. It was still rather early but they had a four hour drive ahead of them and they had promised Will that they would drop Henry off at a decent hour so that he got to spend some time with Henry before he had to bring him to bed.

It had been a long drive but JJ finally parked the car in front of Will's apartment. He'd obviously seen them drive up to his building because he opened the door before JJ even parked the car.

The brunette got out of the car, she waved at Will before she opened the back door to unbuckle Henry from his car seat. JJ made her way around the car, and greeted Will as well. The three of them made their way to the door, Henry ran out in front of them and ran into his father's open arms, Will greeted him with a happy smile.

Both Will as well as Emily acted civil around each other but nevertheless it had caused some awkward situations in the past and JJ knew that being here was weird for Emily. This was actually the first time that Emily set foot in Will's apartment - it was a tiny old apartment with mismatched furniture - which still needed a lot of work and a lot of boxes still needed to be unpacked. It didn't look like a permanent solution and in a way that worried both JJ as well as Emily.

They noticed but neither one of them said anything. Will gestured to the couch in the tiny living room; "I'm glad that you both came, I wanted to talk to the both of you. Would you like some coffee?"

JJ and Emily glanced at one another before they agreed to a cup of coffee. Will stepped into the kitchen area with Henry on his heels. It didn't take long foot him to prepare the coffee and soon the three adults were settled in the living room with a mug of steaming hot coffee in front of them and a plate of chocolate chip cookies for grabs on the table. Something which Henry took grateful advantage of, before any of the applied had a chance to react he had already stuffed two cookies into his mouth.

"So, what's going on?"

"Nothing, really I just wanted to tell you both that Henry and I will be making a little trip. I just want to keep you both informed and all that. I'll bring him back just like we discussed." Will explained his plans for following days, to be honest it didn't really surprise JJ one bit. Will had always said that he wanted to show Henry where he grew up, but so far that had never happened.

"You're taking him to New Orleans?" The blond asked her ex-boyfriend. She was glad that they tried to keep their conversations open when it concerned Henry. She would hate it if they were always fighting and keeping important information from each other. Now they just kept the other informed and gave each other the room to make their own plans.

"Yes, I am." Will smirked; "I'm gonna show my boy my home ground."

JJ smiled she was sure that Will would have never moved away from his beloved South if it hadn't been for her pregnancy and her refusal to move down South. Truth be told their relationship would have ended a long time ago, because traveling back and forth between Washington and New Orleans became old real fast especially since a big part of her job consisted of traveling to and from their cases as well.

"Wow, aren't you a lucky boy! First a trip with Mommy and me to see grandma and grandpa and now a trip with daddy." Emily grinned broadly at the little boy she truly saw as her son.

"That's a real adventure, baby!" JJ agreed with Emily. "Well, I think that it's time for us to go so daddy and you can get ready for your big trip." JJ ushered Henry towards her, once he reached her she wrapped him in her arms. "Henry's clothes and toys are in his bag which is in the hallway . Can you please check it and make sure that you have everything you might need?"

"I will, Chere. Don't worry, I will take good care of him." Will replied in his southern accent using the nickname he'd used for such a long time. It was a habit, everyone heard it but no one mentioned it, in fact Will quickly recovered and continued talking; "Besides we have stores back home in the South too, so don't worry we will be fine."

"I'm sure you will be fine. Now give me a kiss because Emily and I are going home." Henry gave his mother a couple of sloppy kisses and hugged her tightly before he reached for Emily.

"Bye mama, I had a lot of fun."

"Bye sweetie, I had a lot of fun as well. I'm sure you'll have fun with daddy too."

"Yes, I will." Henry exclaimed happily before he struggled to get out of Emily's embrace and ran back to his father. JJ glanced up at Will, if he'd noticed that Henry called Emily 'mama' then he certainly didn't show it. And she wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. She just hoped that he'd missed it or didn't realize what Henry said.

Both of the women left, this time Emily drove them home. JJ was silently looking out of the window. It didn't really surprise her when JJ silently went through the motions if unpacking nor that she was silent when they prepared something to eat. But when they went to bed and the blind still hadn't said much that was when she started to worry.

She eased herself down onto the bed and smiled at the blond who joined her; "What's on your mind? You've been silent all night, are you worried about Henry going with Will to New Orleans?"

"No, not about Henry being with Will, he's a good father but he's going back home. He's been going there a lot lately, his apartment is still a mess, a lot of his boxes are still unpacked... what if..."

"Babe, we can't try to guess what's going on, we got each other maybe he's just struggling to deal with all the changes. He has to do it all alone." Emily shrugged - if she was honest she had been wondering the same thing but she didn't want to worry JJ more than necessary. "If and when it's needed we'll cross that bridge, sweetie. But right now all we can do is relax and make the best of these least couple of days we've got left of our vacation and take advantage of the fact that we are all alone."

"I know." JJ mumbled while she snuggled closer to Emily; "I know."

"But it doesn't make it any easier." Emily stated knowing exactly what the problem was.

"I don't want a nasty custody battle, we promised each other that we would talk, handle things between the two of us. I'm so scared right now, there is no way that we can share custody if Will chooses to move back home."

"Jayje, I love you, you know that and I promise you that I'll be here with you every step of the way." The brunette promised the blond with a confident smile.

**AN: Tell me what you think, please! :)**


	42. Chapter 42

**AN: This chapter brings the story back to the point of the first chapter and now instead of going into the past it goes into the future! Finally! It took me way longer to get there than I ever could have anticipated, this story was not supposed to be this long. But since I had stated in the first chapter that they had been together almost a year I couldn't suddenly change that as I went. And that is the reason why it took so long to get to the point were the other's finally officially find out. **

**Chapter 42**

The team hardly had any time to get back into the flow of things, once the holidays were over. They traveled from one case to another with barely any time between them. It was as if all their unsubs had started the year with renewed energy.

Emily and JJ had barely had any time to see Henry, most of his days were spend with his daddy, something which had been difficult on JJ and on Emily. Especially since she kept worrying about Will and his New Orleans trip. So far however he still hadn't said a single word or revealed what his plans for the future held. Nevertheless every teeny tiny bit of spare time they had was spend with Henry.

January flew by and before they knew it Valentines day was approaching fast. Both Emily as well as JJ had some ideas of how to fill that particular day. However it had been Emily who pulled the short straw, JJ had the brunette wrapped around her finger and she could be quite pushy if she wanted to be. In the end she got it her way. She was the one who set up the plans for the day. Of course with their job they never knew if they would actually be able to celebrate it on the day or not but JJ had also taken that into consideration and managed to work around it.

Nevertheless JJ had made her plans and she'd made sure that - if needed - she could change everything around in the blink of an eye but she made it special at the same time.

February fourteenth came around much faster than expected. The morning had been incredibly busy, for some reason their alarm clock had failed to wake them. They had to rush through all of their morning rituals. JJ was in the shower while Emily prepared breakfast and then she woke Henry up and got him ready to go while Emily was in the shower. Unfortunately JJ had to get changed by the time Emily ascended the stairs, Henry had managed to spill half of his cereal down her blouse and skirt.

Once they ready they had parted ways on their driveway, JJ had taken her car to bring Henry to his daycare while Emily drove off in the opposite direction to seeing by her apartment where she had to pick something up. For some reason she insisted that she had to pick it up that morning. Unfortunately she arrived late at work, even later than JJ. The blond had been pacing between her desk and the window - from which she could see the parking lot - a mischievous grin spread on her face when she noticed the brunette walking towards the entrance. She glanced at her desk quickly before she turned towards the inner-window from which she could see the entrance of the BAU.

The second she heard the elevator ding she'd managed to close the blinds in front of the window and was out of her office in mere seconds. She managed to do that even before Emily reached the glass door which separated the BAU from the hallway. She leaned against the railing, her arms crossed in front of her chest. Her media liaison unreadable face was firmly in place, she knew that neither strangers not her colleagues could read her. It served her well if she was doing a press conference and she was sure that it would work just as well right now.

As soon as the glass door opened and a very unsuspecting Emily entered the BAU she leaned a little bit more forward and put a little bit more force behind her voice when she called out the profilers name; "Prentiss, my office now!" She called out before she swiftly turned on her heels and disappeared into her office. Emily's head snapped up, visibly shaken by the way JJ had called out her name.

She quickly tried to get an answer from either Derek or Reid, but neither one of them seemed to have a clue or at least judged by their behavior she was on her own. The brunette dropped her bag on the floor next to her desk. She could feel everyone's eyes on her, she tried to keep her dignity intact while she made her way towards JJ's office.

Emily reached the door and started to close it, whatever it was that had JJ so annoyed was something she didn't want she share with everyone inside the BAU.

"Close the door." JJ commanded softly, the anger suddenly subsided from her voice and features. Emily complied and when she turned back towards the younger woman she was surprised when JJ was suddenly standing in front of her with a sly grin on her face merely inches between them.

"Happy valentines day, Emily." JJ seductively smiled while she presented her lover with a Krispy Kreme Valentines dough-nut, the heart shaped one with the bright white, pink and red sprinkles. "I know it's not much, but since I had to call the team back in this was all I could take this with me from my original plan."

"Damn JJ, I thought that you were mad at me." Emily said with a smile.

"Me, why would I be mad at you? Do I have a reason to be mad at you?" JJ questioned Emily raising her brow at the other woman.

Emily laughed; "No, of course there is no reason to be mad at me. I was so confused, I mean when we parted this morning everything was fine, I went by my apartment and arrive a little late at work and suddenly you're all mad at me!"

"Good. Well, I didn't want the boys to get suspicions, right now I am pretty sure that they will stay away for a good couple of minutes at least." The blond grinned.

"A couple of minutes? I'm pretty sure that they'll be avoiding you for the rest of the day because they surely don't want to rub you the wrong way today." The brunette grinned, her lover had effectively scared everyone away.

"Good, because I want to have a chance to show you what I had envisioned for the rest of the day. But since we have a case I won't be able to do that. So I am pretty ticked off to be honest." JJ said while she leaned in and kissed the other woman. "Happy Valentines Day, honey."

"Happy valentines day, Jennifer." Emily said to her lover. "We'll do it some other time."

"Yes, we sure will. I made the arrangements but it would have been nice if we could have done it today."

"It would be, but we can't. We knew that it would be hard to actually do it on the fourteenth."

The blond shrugged her reply and kissed Emily one last time before she slipped into her FBI Media Liaison role; "Well, I guess I better call everyone into the round table room now that you're finally here as well. Hotch wants me to tell you all about the latest case, the one we've been watching this past week. It escalated."

Emily looked down at the heart-shaped Krispy Kreme Valentines dough-nut; "I think that we should both eat this before I leave your office. You know just to make sure that there is no evidence of what happened in here." The profiler said with a smirk; "And then you can call us all together, a couple of minutes more won't matter." Emily held the dough-nut in front of JJ's face and waited for her to bite off the first bite.

They shared the dough-nut before Emily returned to her desk. She ignored Derek's questioning looks and focused on the files that were pilled up on her desk. JJ took a couple of minutes to cancel her plans for the night, before she called the team together.

Within an hour the team was on their way to the airstrip where the Jet-stream was fueled and ready to take them to California.

It was three days later when the team returned home, they were exhausted but happy with the outcome of their case. Eventually they had saved the two latest victims and caught the unsub who was most-likely facing a life-long sentence in jail without a chance of parole. The evidence found at his basement had been overwhelming and a sure conviction was waiting for him. Unfortunately the next possible case was already waiting for them when they returned. They were basically waiting for the invitation.

All they had to do now was file their paperwork and then go home for the night. JJ was sitting in her office overlooking the bullpen while she made a couple of phone calls, calls which she couldn't make at home for fear that Emily would overhear her. Calls which had nothing to do with her job, for once she was using her time at her office for something completely unrelated to work.

It didn't take long before the team one by one started to get fed up by the paperwork and one after another started to look for other means of distraction. Reid who had finished first - as usual - had already thumbed through an entire book by the time any of the others were even close to being done. When Emily noticed the book he placed on the desk in front of him she'd started asking him questions about it. Which easily led them into a conversation about some Russian literature they had both read, Derek had tried to get them to change the topic but when no one seemed to notice his attempts he decided to try something else.

He got up from his seat and made his way over to JJ's office; "Hey Jayje, you wanna go to the gym for a while?" He asked with a smile knowing that the blond liked to work-out as well.

"Ehm, sure give me a couple of minutes to get these files on their appropriate piles and I'll go with you." Derek grinned at JJ's mocking her own work style. Which was something none of her colleagues would ever understand.

Derek picked up a pile of files which was currently clogging one of the chairs in front of JJ's desk. He sunk down into the chair and placed the files on his lap. He didn't want to mess-up JJ's system all, that was if she had one - which was something he really doubted.

JJ picked up a pile of files from her desk and started to place the files on several other piles throughout the office while Derek patiently waited until she was finished. Finally JJ grabbed her go bag from it's spot underneath the table and smiled at Derek; "I'm ready."

"Good, I only need to grab my bag and we can go downstairs."

Derek made his way to his desk and grabbed a hold of his bag; "Have a nice chat and if either one of you feels the need to do something physical you should come and join us in the gym, Jayje and I are going to work out for a bit." Rossi who had just walked past them with two mugs of coffee in his hand send a look in his direction but said nothing while he made his way up the walkway towards Hotch's office.

Morgan knew that it was no use to invite Reid because he never joined them in the gym - he had tried to teach the young genius a thing of two but for a highly intelligent agent he was very slow at picking up his instructions, finally he'd just given up and agreed that the boy genius had different skills they needed - but maybe Emily wanted to join them.

Derek was already punching one of the bags when JJ finally entered the gym, the dark skinned man smiled at her and waited for her to get ready while he picked up the sparring gloves. Lately he'd been training with JJ and he knew that sparring was a great stress-relief for the both of them.

They were sparring for a while when Derek started to ask JJ questions about her life. "So how are things with you?"

"Good, every thing's fine." The blond answered a little surprised, it's not that she didn't want him to know about her life but he usually didn't ask the questions so directly.

"Really?" Derek asked while he avoided getting punched by the petite blond who could certainly hand out a mean punch. "Is everything okay between Will and you?"

"We're not together anymore but we still talk to each other and we take care of Henry together, things are as good as they can be I guess. Let's just say it could have been a lot worse, we're dealing with the situation." The blond replied between rapid intakes of air and landing blows in Derek's direction.

"How has Henry been holding up through the changes?"

"He's good, we spend our vacation at my parents outside riding the sled and ice-skating on the pond. It was amazing he learned how to skate in like five minutes!" JJ told Derek proudly.

"Good, sounds like the two of you had a lot of fun." He answered while he swiftly avoided another blow landed in his direction.

JJ quirked her brow at his obvious mention of the word 'two' in that sentence. She ignored it and landed a punch at Derek, one that caught him off guard and hit him square in the shoulder.

"And then he spend the last couple of days of our vacation with Will in New Orleans. It's how we do it, as long as we keep our promises and are able to get along we want to try and keep doing this our way instead of the involvement of lawyers and court-orders." JJ had stopped moving, her shoulders were slumped, her gloved hands hung alongside her body as if she had suddenly forgotten their purpose. "If we have to handle this in court, there is probably no way I can keep working this job, since we have to leave at the drop of a hat. They will never give me custody of Henry ..." JJ trailed off, for the first time in her life sharing her biggest fear with someone other than Emily. "And he's more important."

The tall dark man stepped closer to his friend, he quickly discarded the sparring gloves to the floor and wrapped his arms around her; "Is there any reason for you to think that Will is going to take you to court?" Derek asked with a worried frown.

"I guess not, not really. But it's always in the back of my mind and how could it not. It's my son we're talking about and we see so many broken families around us. Hotch doesn't have a choice with Jack because Haley passed away but I never wanted Henry to grow up in a broken home. We're making the best of it but the truth of the matter is that he doesn't see his daddy as often as he used to. They say that kids bound the best with the same gender parent, what if Henry..."

Derek stepped backwards and placed his hands on both sides of JJ's face, making sure that she was looking him straight in the eye before he started to talk; "Shhh... listen to me, I'm so glad that you are talking to me right now. My dad died in the line of duty, most of my life I grew up being around my mom and my sisters - and even my aunts and nieces. And I grew up a pretty descent man if I may say so myself." Morgan answered with a huge grin while he punched himself in the chest; "Reid grew up without a father and even though he's nothing like me he's a good man and he had a lot of struggles when he grew up. I heard about a mama Rossi but never that there was also a dad in the picture and Hotch lost his father when he was fairly young. I don't think that Henry will be better of with Will around if that means that his mommy is unhappy. He'll be fine, I'm sure of it there is not a doubt in my mind. Besides that you got us, all of us to be role models in his life if he needs or wants us."

"Thanks Derek, I really needed to hear that."

"Any time you need to hear that again you make sure that you come and find me and I will repeat it for you, anytime girl" Derek said with that trademark grin while he picked up the gloves and started to pull them on; "You ready for another round?"

The confident smile returned on JJ's face; "Yes. However the question remains if you're ready for a smack-down?" The petite blond replied while she tried to bring some humor back to lighten the mood.

"Oh, really girl and who you gonna bring to kick my ass?"

"Just me and my very skilled fists." She laughs while she holds her gloved hands up in front of her face like he taught her.

Derek rubbed his shoulder; "Okay, well I know how to take a hint. Let's get showered and get back upstairs it's about time to go home anyway." The two agents parted ways at the entrance of the locker rooms; "I would really hate to be on the receiving end of your anger if you catch an unsub." Derek said with a grin before he pushed the door open and disappeared inside. "I actually feel a little bit sorry for teaching you that ... nah hold that thought, I don't, they deserve everything they get."

JJ grinned at his comment and shook her head while she watched the door close in front of her before she turned towards the other locker room and disappeared inside. She was surprised when she found Emily leaning casually against one of the lockers with a big grin on her face.

"Hey, what're you doing here?" JJ said while she moved closer towards the brunette. She didn't dare to kiss her in the locker room who knew who could walk in at any given moment but she needed - desperately needed - to feel close to the older woman. Emily apparently felt the same way, as soon as JJ was within arm's reach she placed her hand on JJ's upper-arm. The blond smiled and melted when she saw the same smile returned. "Let me take a quick shower and I'll be right out."

"Sure, I just needed to get away from my desk for a while."

"So you thought why not hang around in the locker room because it smells so good here?" The blond quirked her brow up while she started to pull her shirt off in front of her locker.

"Well, not so much for the smell but the view is absolutely spectacular." Emily answered with a smirk while she approvingly watched the younger woman undress.

"Right." JJ rolled her eyes at the comment and tossed her FBI shirt in Emily's general direction and made her way to the showers.

They continued to work out of the office for the rest of the week, Reid gave a lecture at the academy and Rossi had a talk with his publicist but other than that everyone spend most of their time at their desks working on paperwork and handling telephone and mail consults. Every now and then they needed a break and usually their break-room was the place to go. At any given time a freshly brewed pot of coffee was filling the room with it's aromas - which only seemed to attract one profiler after another.

It wasn't all that surprising that by the end of the day everyone was hyped up to get out of the office or at least do something active.

Emily got up from her desk once more, pushing her chair backwards while she grabbed her mug. She made her way into the small kitchen area and filled her own mug with coffee while her other hand blindly reached for a second mug.

She quickly made her way up to JJ's office - something which none of her co-workers questioned because they were all too familiar with it. After all the women on their team had been close friends for years.

Emily stepped inside and closed the door behind her. JJ looked up and smiled at the brunette, she had been sitting in her half darkened office all day reading one file after another and answering her phone. She had three cases she was keeping a close eye on, she had talked them over with Hotch and the final choice was now his to make.

"I thought you could use some coffee, you've been sitting here in the dark for a long time." Emily said as a matter of an explanation,even though she really didn't need one. She placed the mugs on the table while the blond moved around the desk.

She smiled; "Yes, I could surely use some coffee, but there is something I want even more." Her voice was nothing more than a whisper - a very husky whisper.

"Oh really, care to share what that is." Emily feigned innocence.

JJ closed the space between her and Emily and pulled her close, she stared up into the brunette's eyes; "You." She simply stated while her hand hooked behind Emily's neck entangled in her dark tresses. While she pulled her even closer, their lips met in a battle of wills - they both knew they shouldn't be doing this but they both wanted it, needed it.

JJ's hand traveled down to Emily's butt, she pulled the brunette's taller body flush against her. Both where lost in the moment, that was until the door behind them opened.

Garcia was in her lair - minding her own business, really she was ... kinda. She really wasn't spying or anything, she was merely trying to do her work while she kept an eye on her family. She loved it when they were around, part of her wanted to be able to join them in the BAU but that would mean that she would have to leave her babies - her computers, the countless screens that fed her all the information she needed and more, all the information in the world right here at her fingertips.

The purpose of her being here - with her 'family' - was so that she with her skills could give them the information they needed whenever they needed it. And for that she needed to be in her lair, with her computers. Yet it also meant that she had to miss her family whenever they went on a case. So no one could really blame her for hacking into the security system of the BAU. She had the videos running on one of her screens which she didn't use at the moment while she was working. It wasn't spying, it was just a need to feel close to her family that drove her.

So that afternoon she was watching the camera's, following her surrogate family on the screens when she noticed the brunette walking up to the office that was occupied by the Media Liaison and she knew that she was in for a show. It was just something in the way that the brunette walked up to the office, there was something different about her swagger.

It had been brewing right under the surface for a while now, and lately even more so, since the team left for their case and returned. Garcia knew that JJ and Emily had wanted to go on their date - and being JJ's best friend made sure that she knew all - well not all because that would be too much information - about the plans that she had for their special night.

So when she noticed Emily getting up and moving towards the office she knew that something was about to happen and she couldn't tear her eyes away from the screen.

And her sneakiness was paying off, her two best friends certainly were up to something. She watched them with a huge grin on her face. That was until a different camera on the split screen caught her eye. In a matter of seconds she was out of her chair making her way down to the BAU as fast as her high heels could carry her. Her actions earned her some strange looks from other agents who happened to be in the hallway but she didn't care. She pushed through the glass doors only to find that she was too late. Barely, but still too late.

Garcia watched her two best friends with a huge grin on her face. The bubbly blond had warned them several times before that one day they would get caught and the longer they waited the worse the situation would be. She told them that they had nothing to worry about, that their friends would understand. But now she could only grin at what had happened mere minutes before, she'd tried to prevent it, but she had been too late and who could blame her. She'd been in her lair and she ran all the way here in her three inch heels - and even though that could have turned out quite disastrous she didn't falter, she had ran as fast as she could.

Garcia knew that Emily and JJ had both been avoiding the subject for way too long - and in her opinion for reasons that were really not going to be an issue once it all came out in the open - at least not with their team, their family. Maybe there would be a problem with Strauss but even that didn't worry Garcia. She knew that one way or another things would work out, just like they always had. And if Strauss really caused problems she still had a trick our two up her sleeve.

No matter how long they could keep it a secret they had always known that it would be a matter of time before they got caught one way or another. Working with profilers meant that they were going to find out sooner rather than later and truth be told it had already been way longer than she ever expected that they would be able to keep their relationship a secret.

The fact that a game of grab-ass at the office was what outed them was something they could only blame themselves for. Nevertheless Garcia was glad, it had been difficult to keep a secret as big as this from all of their mutual friends. One thing was for sure next time they wanted to keep something a secret they could start by finding a new best friend.

Some secrets were worth sharing no matter what it could cause,this was something good. After all even if it would mean that one or both of them could be transferred to a different team. She really hoped that wouldn't be necessary or someone would suddenly encounter all kinds of digital problems - it would still be something good because they both had what they wanted all along. A loving partner and a family. And having that was more important than any kind of job in Garcia's opinion.

Garcia pushed herself forward, past Rossi and Hotch - who were still standing in the door opening. So far none of them had spoken, all of them seemed to be frozen, unable to say anything.

Emily and JJ resembled a couple of deer caught in the headlights of an upcoming car, literally frozen in place. JJ's hands were still on Emily's backside, their bodies still pulled close together and a look of shock registered on both of their faces.

"Okay you two, snap out of it!" She exclaimed while she flapped her hands in front of their faces, the bubbly blond pushed the door close behind her and focused on her best friends; "Since Rossi was here to call you for the round table meeting I would suggest that you make up your mind quickly because this is it and you owe them all an explanation. So take a deep breath and follow me." Garcia spoke in very demanding tone of voice, one they weren't used to hear from her but she didn't care, she was sure that everything would be just fine.

Emily breathed in loudly and took a glance at Garcia, she nodded her head before she turned her attention towards the younger blond; "Whatever happens in the next few minutes won't change anything between us. I love you and I love Henry and nothing will ever change that. I want you to know that."

"I love you too. Don't worry, I don't doubt that you love us, not for a second."

"Ladies! What's with the drama have some faith in our boys! You're acting as if you're off to meet your maker, there ain't a firing squad in the next room. This won't change a thing, they might be confused as to why you didn't tell them before but it won't change the way they feel about you two." Garcia reasoned with them once again, she really didn't see the problem in fact she never had.

"They might not, but Garcia once its out there it's only a matter of time before Strauss knows."

"We've kept this a secret for months now what makes you think that suddenly everyone will know?" Garcia nodded her head in disbelief how could they doubt their friends? "Lets do this. You gotta face the music."

Garcia opened the door and led the way to the round-table room. It was eerily quiet inside when they entered the room. Garcia sat down on one of the chairs while Emily and JJ stood barely inside still barely inside the room - as if they were about to bolt the chance they got - every one was looking at them expectantly.

"So ehm... That was not how we wanted you to find out about us." Emily spoke up, her voice sounded surprisingly steady after the initial rough start.

"We should have told you all a long time ago what was going on between us. I'm sorry that we didn't." JJ admitted softly, she looked extremely uncomfortable. In fact she suddenly seemed years younger than she was, her demeanor was that of a child who was being questioned about something by an adult. Not at all what you would expect of a Media Liaison.

"It's not that we didn't trust you or anything it seemed easier in the beginning and the longer it went on... There is no excuse we should have told you." She sighed giving them all an apologetic smile. This was the best she could do.

"Wait a minute now! You two are telling us that you are together and that you have been for a while, seriously?" Derek asked while he stood up; "I'm glad you two finally found your courage." The grin on his face made it clear that he was teasing them. He made his way around the table and hugged his best friend. "Princess, you could have told me!" He smiled at the tall brunette.

Emily smiled and hugged the strong FBI agent back. She sighed in relief and while she allowed the hug to last a little longer than she usually would have. "Thanks, that means a lot. You knew." She mumbled softly against his shoulder, it wasn't a question because she already knew the answer.

"Yeah. I would be a pretty lousy profiler if I didn't at least have a hunch. Especially since that time I saw you and Henry at the store, you were too familiar with him. You caught him each time he tried to reach for something, while I hadn't even seen that he was planning to make a move. And I think he even called you mama, though you tried to talk around it but your eyes gave you away."

At that moment Reid spoke up for the first time; "I resent that, I had no idea, but I'm in no way a lousy profiler, Derek. Nevertheless I'm happy for you both!" He replied with a nod and a lopsided smile.

"No Reid, you're just you and we love you exactly the way you are. You are a true genius." Derek grinned while he slapped Reid on his back. The lanky doctor grinned back, he knew that he was different but he also knew that they cared about him.

"Thank you, Reid! That means a lot." JJ looked up for the first time since they had stepped into the room. Emily had moved away from Derek's side and took her place next to Jennifer. The blond smiled at her and moved into her embrace, the blond wrapped her arms around her lover and smiled. A huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders, a weight she hadn't realized had been hanging over her. Now that it was gone the difference was clearly noticeable however.

So far both Rossi and Hotch had remained silent, but neither Emily nor JJ were worried about the two men. Nothing ever really seemed to phase them. Especially Rossi, he had his own fair share of relationships and they knew that he wasn't one to judge others for their choices as long as they were happy.

Even knowing that made Emily dread the next thing she was going to have to say; "Hotch, there is something else we need to tell you. My information needs to be updated, I moved into Jayje's house a couple of months ago. I want to put my apartment onto the market, no matter what happens after today, I'm sure that Jayje and I will get through it just fine." JJ's head snapped up, they hadn't talked about it. She knew that Emily loved the apartment and so far she hadn't been ready to give it up even though they hadn't been living there but clearly she'd changed her mind. It was a huge gesture that

The brunette smiled confidently at the people around her - this was the Emily they all knew the stubborn woman who wouldn't show her true fears to anyone, the woman who dealt with everything on her own terms. But she was no longer able to fool JJ or Garcia for that matter - she'd opened up over the past year - and there was no way she could ever fool them again.

The brunette smiled, right now she felt pretty stupid for being afraid to tell them about their love for each other. She turned towards the blond next to her; "Jayje, I love you. I'm going to make sure that nothing will get in the way of that ever again, not even my own fears." She talked softly, making sure that JJ was the only one who could actually hear her promise.

Hotch cleared his throat; "Congratulations to both of you. I will make sure that your information gets updated. But Strauss might want to have a chat with the both of you."

"We know, we talked about it and we'll just have to see what will happen." JJ said while she looked up at Emily.

"Can we please move on, we have a case to focus on. Take a seat." Hotch gestured to the table and took a seat himself. The others followed quickly and within a minute everyone was focused on the case at hand. Everyone except for Emily and JJ, who couldn't stop smiling at one another.

The team focused on the case and before they knew it they were on their way to Illinois. JJ had called Will and he was going to pick Henry up from his daycare after work.

It didn't take them long to get settled into their normal routine, the team discussed their case while Garcia started to run their first ideas through her multiple computer screens. Reid was staring at a map on his hand held trying to figure out any geographical clues. Emily and JJ found themselves sitting next to one another, they smiled at each, both aware what the other one was thinking - like they usually did - however now they where able to do so without being afraid that someone might figure out that something was going on between them. To be honest it was a huge relief, a heavy weight had been lifted of their shoulders and they knew that had the situation been different - if they didn't have a case right now - the team would have teased them. Just the fact that they were on a case right now wouldn't save them from it, it would just temporarily delay the inevitable. Sooner rather than later they would have to face Strauss, there was no way around it.

They worked the case like they usually would, shared a hotel room and made sure that nothing in their work style suggested a change had occurred. It wasn't until the case had ended that it became obvious that they were indeed in love. It was late when they had finally apprehended their suspect in a raid and all choose in favor of having dinner and a good night sleep before they headed home especially since they hadn't slept the previous night.

The local PD would take over the rest of the work and the team was ready to pack up their belongings. When Rossi suggested that they would get something to eat before they traveled home everyone quickly agreed. While they normally just say down randomly they now purposely left two seats next to each other free.

Both JJ as well as Emily noticed it when they walked into the room, they smiled at each other while their hands joined. They made their way to the table knowing that their friends would stand behind them no matter what was going to happen in the near future.


	43. Chapter 43

**Chapter 43**

The mood had lightened considerably since they had closed the case, dinner was served - and since they were no longer on the clock - with glasses of wine which helped a lot as well. Of course it didn't take long before the conversation was turned from the case they just closed to their recently revealed relationship.

"Now that we have time to discuss the more personal things, enlighten us, how long has this really been going on?" Derek asked while he leaned back in his chair watching the two women across from him with a smug smile; "Because I bet that this has been going on a lot longer than any of us thought." He crossed his arms in front of his broad chest while he waited for either one of them to answer his question.

Emily shifted uncomfortably in her chair - Derek and she had been close friends for a long time now and she realized now that she shouldn't have doubted him - JJ placed her hand on her upper-thigh underneath the table and smiled at her, though Emily couldn't see it. Their friends couldn't see the encouraging gesture either but the brunette seemed to freeze nevertheless.

It took a couple of seconds but finally the gesture seemed to give the brunette the strength to start talking; "You are right. It's been almost what ... Almost a year." Emily answered, the last part of the sentence was spoken considerably softer than the first part. She just admitted after all that she had lied to her friends - the people she saw as her family - for almost a year, well maybe not lied but she had certainly kept some details from the others or avoided certain questions.

"A year! Wow, it was obvious that it had been longer but I honestly never expected that it had been this long." Derek whistled softly. The agent seemed to be somewhat impressed and taken aback by the new revelation.

"Yes, Emily and I have been together almost a year now." JJ confirmed with an apologetic smile; "Sorry for bringing this up Hotch, but it was right after Haley died. I realized that the love I once felt for Will wasn't there anymore. While the love between Haley and you was so obvious even though the two of you had been divorced for a while. And I decided that staying together for Henry wasn't the right thing to do, in the end it would make me miserable. I didn't feel like I could take the risk to stay with Will and turn our household into a poisonous environment for Henry we see that too much in our job. I want him to be happy and carefree and parents who fight all the time can't provide that for their child. That was just part of what had changed. My feelings had changed as well. Slowly but surely I started to look at Emily in a different way at first I didn't want to admit it. To be honest it was Will who made me aware of those feelings."

"What? How do you figure that?" Derek asked - he almost spit the sip of wine he had previously been swallowing across the table. Before he was actually able to ask the question.

"I know this might sound like I'm a scorned woman but Will's extremely jealous. He never liked me going away from my job, he asked me time and time again to quit my job or at least stay back at the BAU with Penelope. I love being with her but I felt like it would not be doing my job if I stayed back, I am an agent as well as a media liaison. He often accused either one of you of wanting to date me, or at least sleep with me. He kept telling me that it wasn't right for a woman who had a man and child at home to stay away for days on end." JJ shrugged, this was information he never told any of them before. She always believed that whatever happened in her relationship was private but she also needed to explain to them what happened. "One day he came home from work and Emily and I were in the backyard talking while we were watching Henry who was in the sandbox playing. That night I had a huge fight with Will, he claimed that I cheated on him with Emily. I told him that he was being ridiculous. But he insisted that it was exactly what Emily wanted, he could see it in her eyes while she checked me out and it would only be a matter of time before she would act on her feelings. I defended her, obviously. But the accusations made me wonder if it could be true. The more I thought about it the more I began to realize that he might be right." JJ reached out and took Emily's hand in hers. "When I found out that they were I was shocked at first and it took me some time but I really do love her." At this point JJ turned towards Emily and kissed her gently on her lips.

"I feel the same way ..." Emily admitted softly. "I'm sorry Hotch, for bringing this up again but you were separated and yet it was so obvious how much you still loved her and how quickly it was all over. I realized that I had to at least come clean about my own feelings towards Jennifer. Feelings I had ever since I first laid eyes on her in your office. I know it's crazy, but Jennifer was straight as far a I knew and I never thought that she would be interested in me." The profiler admitted while she looked up at Hotch who was sitting at the table across from her. He closed his eyes briefly probably remembering his late wife but he nodded his head in the general direction of the two women. What had happened to Haley had affected them all in one way or another, it made them all rethink their lives and the choices they made.

It was late that night before they each went to their rooms - even if it would be an early morning the next day no one seemed worried about it. Once they had finished their dinner they had moved from the restaurant to the bar and continued talking.

***

Valentines Day had passed and the team had unfortunately been working a case. There was no rest for the Unsubs and they certainly didn't stop their devious crimes because of a global need for a day of romance. But that hadn't stopped JJ from making any plans, plans which unfortunately couldn't take place at the big day. She had placed some calls and had made sure that if necessary she could change her plans at the very last minute - which she unfortunately had to do. A mere phone-call had been enough to cancel and a new arrangement was made just as easily.

JJ had visited Hotch the first chance she had and asked him for two days off for both her and Emily. She pleaded with him to hold the information to himself since it was a surprise for Emily. The blond was eager - she had made a point of hiding her plans from Emily and she was sure that the brunette was completely unaware when they left work a couple of days later. Since they no longer needed to use two cars, they had arrived with one in the morning and JJ had insisted that they would use her car. Normally she didn't mind which car they took but unknown to Emily the trunk of the car had been filled with everything she thought they might need. JJ had to improvise with Emily's bag because she couldn't use her go-bag like they usually did when they went away for a weekend.

She had called Will, but it turned out that he was going to be working - they had planned a stakeout - so he was unavailable for the night. Will and his colleagues had been working on a mayor drugs case for months and it was hopefully coming to a close on this exact night. He had apologized but JJ had told him not to worry, she was sure that she would find a solution. Again JJ had to make different arrangements, she thought that she was going to call Garcia but she had decided against it when another thought crossed her mind. So instead of calling Garcia JJ had made a call with Emily's parents. Since Christmas they had been over at their house a couple of times and vice versa, Elizabeth and Edward had - true to their promise - really made an effort to get to know and understand their own daughter, JJ and Henry alike. Unknown to Emily JJ had cleared Emily's mother to pick Henry up at the daycare today. She would take Henry home with her and she and Emily would pick Henry up once they came back home. She knew that Emily probably wouldn't like her arrangement one bit but she felt confident enough to allow Elizabeth and Edward tot take care of Henry for a couple of days. Things had changed and she was sure that the Elizabeth she got to know was a different woman than the one that had attempted to raise Emily. She didn't really think about Emily's feelings towards her choice, maybe she should have but it didn't cross her blond had lured Emily to the car as soon as they could leave the FBI Headquarters that day, she had told Emily that Will was picking Henry up to make sure that the brunette wouldn't be suspicious. The younger woman steered the dark gray car onto the street and started to drive away from Quantico. The first part of the route was in the direction of their home. The blond adapted the music channel on the radio from her steering wheel and started to sing along with some cheesy eighties song. Emily smiled and rolled her eyes when JJ couldn't quite make the high note. The blond grinned happily while Emily nodded her head in disbelief and gazed outside. She sat in silence for another ten minutes before she realized that they had driven towards the highway that was leading them away from their route home.

"Jayje, where are we going?" Emily asked when she realized that this was anything but the way home.

"You'll see." Was all the blond felt like sharing at this point, she concentrated on the road in front of her and sung along to the radio. It was barely five minutes later when Emily asked again.

"Wow! You really can't handle a surprise, can you?" JJ asked with a grin; "You're worse than Henry!"

"No, I not! Okay, maybe I am. But you know I can't stand a surprise. So tell me where are we going?" The brunette denied and admitted the blonde's comment in a matter of seconds. She turned the music down - so that it could function as background noise.

"No, I won't tell you, you'll see once we get there. Deal with it." The blond couldn't hide the cheeky smile.

"Jayje, you are so mean!" Emily exclaimed in a very childlike manner with a roll of her eyes.

JJ just chuckled and decided to tease her a little bit more; "Well, what are you gonna do about it?"

"Nothing I guess, I've seen you opposite of Unsubs and large crowds of reporters and if there is something you don't want them to know you won't give it away. So I think that it doesn't matter what I do, if you don't want to tell me I won't get it out of you. At least not when we are in a moving vehicle, not without endangering our lives and I am not prepared to do that." Emily added with a cheeky grin.

JJ just laughed, while she rolled her eyes at the older woman. She was sure that Emily could get any information out of her if she really tried, she was in fact pretty sure that Emily was aware of that little fact as well.

They sat in silence for a while - the traffic started to clear up and JJ was making good progress - when Emily suddenly started to laugh; "I know where we're going!" A certain giddy-ness took over Emily's whole appearance.

"Ah, you do? Well then enlighten me, special agent Prentiss?" JJ replied with a smile. While she kept her eyes on the traffic around her.

"We're going to Chestnut Hill!" Emily answered witth a grin, she loved Chestnut Hill she had a lot of good memories there and she was eager to make even more good memories.

"Yes, yes we are. I organized it with Hotch, we have the next three days off. We can use your parents gift-card and I've added another day. By the way I have a confession to make." JJ quickly glanced at Emily before she turned her attention back to the road.

"Really, what's that?" Emily asked with interest.

The blond looked up at Emily, before she averted her eyes back to the road; "Henry, he's not with Will. Will's working - a drug related stakeout, their case hopefully gets solved today so there was no way he was going to be able to get out of it. So for a while I thought that maybe Garcia could take care of him while we were away but the team is already down two agents for the rest of the week and it wouldn't be fair to any of them if her mind was pre-occupied."

"Okay, so where is he? Because those are our usual options?" Emily asked a little worried.

"I called your mother."

"You did what! You called my mother?" At this exact point JJ was really relieved that she was the one driving because she was sure that Emily would have hit the break and if they hadn't crashed she probably would have been on her way back to the city right about now.

"I called your mother, she offered that Edward and her could babysit Henry if we needed them and since we've been seeing a lot of them lately, I figured that I might give them a call. They have really stepped up, so I choose to give them a chance." While Emily had been proud of her mother for the obvious changes she was trying to make, she still wasn't convinced yet that it wasn't a temporary change.

"Giving them a chance to babysit would mean that we let them take care of Henry for a couple of hours but you give them a trial run that'll last for days? We have to go back!" Emily said, a worried look on her face. "Jayje, please. I can take you here some other time when Will can take care of Henry. Or we can even take him with us. Please we need to go back."

"Em, we are not going back. There is no reason to go back, you're just over-reacting. We are going on a little retreat for a couple of days and we're going to enjoy it as much as we can. And Henry is not coming with us because I have made some appointments for the next two days. None of which would be any fun for a four year old boy." JJ wasn't worried at all; "Look, I know that your parents have never been the best of parents when you were younger. But they are really stepping up and I trust them to take care of Henry. He'll be fine, Emily, trust me ... trust them. They are both aware of the mistakes they made and they really have been great with Henry so far."

Emily was silent for a while, she was just staring out of the window; "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because it was a surprise." JJ shrugged. "I wanted to surprise you."

"No, why did you tell me that Henry was with Will?" The brunette asked still sulking.

"Exactly because of this reason. I know that I might not know your parents all that well but what I've seen so far has made me sure that they have the best intentions. I know that you're afraid that this is only temporary, that they might return to be their former selves. To the way they were when you were little, but I really belief that they - and especially your mother - are going to try to do their best to make amends."

"Why do you trust them, if I don't?" She questioned the younger woman's judgment.

JJ was silent for a while, she parked the car along the side of the road and turned a little in her seat so she could face Emily; "Honey, I know that you have trust issues when it comes to your parents and belief me I know that you have every reason and right to have them. But I truly do believe that your parents really want to be there for us. What your mother did at the Christmas party was a huge gesture. She understood you, maybe for the first time, but not only that she stood up for you. They are really trying and I think that this situation might prove to you that you can trust them. Henry wouldn't be with them if I didn't trust your parents, belief me I would have rather cancelled this trip again." The blonde leaned in and kissed the brunette. "It'll all be fine. You'll see."

JJ started the engine and made her way onto the road, soon they are on their way to the Chestnut Hill. The brunette returned to silence, her eyes focussed on the side of the road. Right now she's refusing to look at JJ, she's contemplating her trust issues with her parents. But JJ isn't worried, she knows that Emily needs time to process everything and she is sure that the brunette will have to agree at one point that she was right all along. It might take some time and it even might take her seeing with her own eyes that Henry survived a couple of days with her parents. JJ smiled she was just going to make sure that she kept Emily's mind occupied.

It wasn't long before they arrived at the Chestnut Hill Bed & Breakfast, they drove up the lane and a beautiful large victorian house appeared at the top of the hill. It was gorgeous. Like something from a dream, Emily who'd been silent since JJ's confession seemed to decided that she should trust JJ's judgment.

JJ followed the signs for the parking and parked the car in one of thwe. They left the car and met one another at the back of the car. Emily smiled at the blond and pulled her closer towards her; "Thanks for organizing this."

"Thank you for coming along." JJ answered while she was still wrapped in Emily's arms.

"I didn't really have a choice, I was trapped in a car!" Emily exclaimed in an exagerrated manner followed by a grin. JJ pushed herself away from the older woman and slapped her against her arm in mock shock. She focused her attention back to the car and opened the trunk.

"You got a choice now, grab your bag and make a run for it." The blond joked while she grabbed her own bag and swung it over her shoulder.

"Nah, I think that I will stay." She grabbed her bag and waited for JJ to close the trunk.

The blond smiled and pulled the brunette close. "What a smart choice." She replied between kisses, hand in hand they made their way around the building.

***

It didn't take long before they found their way to their room. A beautiful cream coloured room with hardwood floors. A huge dark four poster bed with engravings was the centerpiece of the room. It was truly beautiful, everything was just perfect. They placed their bags on the floor, JJ sat down on the bed, she rolled her head from side to side to relief the strained muscles in her neck.

Emily walked over to the window, the sun was just setting in the distance shedding the woods in a beautiful light. She waved the blond over to the window. "You need to see this."

JJ joined Emily, the brunette wrapped her arms around the younger woman. "Perfection, just true perfection."

"Hmm, yeah … true perfection." Emily answered while she kissed JJ's neck.

"Let's get something to eat, or maybe take walk outside before it gets too dark an then get something to eat?"

"Sounds like a plan, a walk first then something to eat." JJ agreed with Emilt, she picked her coat up from the chair where she had discarded it earlier on.

JJ had obviously done her homework, she'd already found a restaurant and booked a table before they let Quantico. They drove a couple of miles and found a cosy mexican restaurant. They shared a delicious meal and took a walk before they returned to the Chestnut Hill. Emily smiled while she remembered how the night had ended.

***

Emily smiled, the sun woke her up. It was still quite early but she felt extremely refreshed and awake. She opened her eyes and watched the blond who was still asleep next to her. All she could see was her bare back and her long blond hair the rest of her was either obscured by the blankets or turned away from her.

She reached her hand out but at the last moment she stopped herself and hovered it above JJ's shoulder before she pulled it back. She laid her hand on the mattress close to her body and watched the blond. For a period of at least thirty minutes she stayed that way, while she watched JJ completely content with the way her life had turned out.

Her eyes drifted across the room, the bed in which they slept was a beautiful four-poster queen size bed. With the best mattress she'd ever rested on. The whole room was perfectly styled. Just the way she remembered it from when her mother used to take her here when they came back to the states for a short visit. This was the perfect bed and breakfast, she had fond memories of this particular place. She was glad that her parents coupon gave her a chance to make some more valuable memories. She never would have brought JJ to this place if it hadn't been for her parents. Apparently her mother knew her better than she ever let on.

And even now she herself still hadn't made a plan for the coupon, it had all been JJ's hard work. She had no idea what was going on and she felt kind of sorry for the way she reacted when JJ told her that Henry was staying with Elizabeth and Edward. Things were different now, her mother had definitely changed and her father was home, not like it was when she was younger. Her father was always off working - while she and her mom were moving from one Ambassadors post to another.

Henry wouldn't re-live the troubled youth she once had, that time was behind her. She knew that, she would make sure that nothing like that would ever happen to Henry. But it was still difficult to allow her parents - who hurt her so much when she was younger - such close contact with the little boy she'd truly started to see as her own flesh and blood. She wanted to keep him safe from all the things that could hurt him. She wanted him to be happy and carefree and she wanted to be one of the people who provided that for him.

Emily had been reminiscing for quite some time when she suddenly felt JJ stir next to her. She averted her attention to the blond. A smile appeared on her face while she pushed herself up on her hands. She leaned down and kissed the blonde's shoulder. JJ stirred and turned a little, she smiled at Emily.

"You've been awake for a while, haven't you?"

"Hmm … yes. I was thinking." Emily laid down on her side and wrapped her arm around JJ's waist. The blond turned onto her back and kissed the brunette.

"What were you thinking about?"

"About us, you and Henry. But mostly about us." The brunette smiled, she dragged her finger along JJ's jaw making sure that the younger woman was looking straight at her. "I'm sorry for my reaction yesterday when you told me that Henry was going to be with my parents. You were right, it scared me more than I can ever tell you but it was irrational. I was projecting my own fears. Sorry, I should have trusted you." Emily pushed JJ's hair behind her ear and smiled at her.

"Don't worry about it, sweetie. I knew that you needed time to work through this at your own pace. That is why I didn't bring it up last night." Jennifer smiled at Emily and pushed a strand of hair behind her ear, mirroring the exact same gesture which Emily had made just seconds before.

The brunette leaned down and kissed the blonde passionately. She wanted to deepen the kiss and give a repeat performance of the previous night when JJ stopped her. "Stop!" JJ spoke softly but it sure got the point across, the brunette stopped immediately in confusion. The blond chuckled; "I love you."

The brunette chuckled; "Stop it?" The profiler arched her brow with a grin; "I really, really love you too."

"What time is it, Emily?"

The brunette stopped and reached for her phone which was on the bedside table. "It's ehm … nine. Why?"

Jennifer pushed herself up from the bed; "We need to get up."

"What! Why! Aren't we supposed to have fun? Besides I am feeling realy comfortable right here with you in my arms." Emily exclaimed; "I thought that we had a couple of days off to do whatever we wanted and I want you. All of you."

"Hmm … yes, tempting as that surely does sound and taken into advicement that I want you too, I have to decline you right now, breakfast is only until ten and I made a couple of appointments for today." JJ explained. She was standing next to the bed watching Emily who until this point refused to follow her, the brunette even groaned. Which made the blonde chuckle - it was as if she was trying to get a teenager to get up or school early in the morning - she shrugged and made her way to the bathroom. She took a quick shower and was out within minutes. She chuckled when she returned to the bedroom and saw that Emily had refused to move from the spot she'd been in when she left the room minutes before.

"Common' Em, get up."

"No, I've decided that I'm going to stay in bed."

"And here I thought I brought a grown woman with me and that I still had a couple of years before I had to deal with a teenager. Seriously get up right now, I planned the whole day." The media liaison decided to give the profiler a taste of her own medicine. Since she was acting like a kid she would get treated like one as well. She lifted the corner of the blanket and pulled it off in one swift move.

"Jayje, come on! Are you insane!" The brunette grumbled, even though she'd been awake for quite some time, getting up had not really been on her mind.

"Just get up already. Breakfast looks really good, too good to pass up besides you're going to regret it if you don't eat now." JJ stated matter of factly while she watched the brunette behind her in the reflection of the mirror while she brushed her hair - who was finally getting up - out of the corner of her eye. The brunette - who was stark naked - swayed her ass in a very un-Emily like fashion while she proceeded her way towards the bathroom.

Emily disappeared behind the door only to reappear seconds later. "Jayje, maybe you could join me, you know to make sure that I am actually getting ready."

JJ rolled her eyes and threw the towel she used to dry her hair at Emily. The towel hit the closed door while a chuckle erupted behind it. "How about I promise you to make it up to you later today?" JJ called out.

Emily's reply came instantly; "That'll be a promise I'll make sure you won't forget."

JJ chuckled; "I really didn't expect you to forget about it and neither will I." JJ checked her phone to see if she had received any messages from Emily's parents. But she figured that no news was good news. She trusted that they would be fine. Finally Emily came out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her body. She grabbed her bag and placed it on the bed.

"What are you planning for us? Anything specific I should wear?" She asked while she dropped the towel and started to put on her underwear.

"Just jeans and shirt, nothing too fancy. You won't be wearing it all that long anyway."

"Really now, is that a promise?" The profiler asked while she slipped her panties and bra on and picked out a pair of jeans and a shirt.

"Certainly." JJ answered; "Are you finally ready?"

"Yes, I'm finally ready. Let's go, before they start clearing the tables." The brunette leaned in and kissed the younger woman. "Did you hear anything from my parents?"

"No, I haven't but I know that he's fine." The blond smiled; "We can call them once we're done eating."

"We'll do that." Emily said determined. The brunette opened the door and allowed JJ to pass her. She gave the blond a slap to her ass and followed her outside. She instantly turned a deep shade of red when she noticed an elderly couple standing in the hallway about to open their door. JJ walked passed them with a smile and bid them a good morning. Emily followed suit, and wished them a good morning as well. She could still feel her cheeks burning.

They rushed down the stairs giggling like teenagers and made it to the breakfast area in record time. The food looked delicious and Emily had to admit that she was happy that JJ got her out of bed. The filled their plates and found a place at a little table next to the window which gave them an amazing view of the yard.

Emily took a bite from her toast and watched JJ intensely; "So what is it you have planned for us today?"

"Aha, so now you're suddenly interested?" JJ took a gulp from her steaming hot coffee and stared at the brunette.

"Oh common' you know that I'm always interested in whatever you plan for us."

"We're going to have the perfect day." JJ answered with a smirk.

"What? That's it?" Emily rolled her eyes; "That's all you're going to say?"

"Spa day!" The blond answered triomphant with a huge grin.

***

They had been at the spa the whole day. A sauna, a turkish steam bath and had now moved to a private massage room. Both of them were laying on a table only covered by a white towel. They were waiting for their masseuses to arrive. A soft music was playing in the background. Both women felt like they were completely relaxed.

It didn't take long for their masseuses to arrive. The women introduced themselves and prepared before they started.

"Oh my God! This feels so good!" JJ mumbled. Her masseuse was giving her back, shoulders and neck a good rub. Something which the blond really needed, her back and shoulders had been feeling too tense for the longest time. It was stress related, she knew that but she also knew that stress was unavoidable in their line of work.

"We should do this more often this feels so good." JJ once again spoke up.

The brunette stifled a laugh and rolled her eyes; "Jayje, please be quiet. Other people might think that something else might be going on in here."

JJ responded in kind and threw one of the small hot towels at Emily. "So what if they do." The blonde responded carelessly. "I don't mind, let them think whatever they want to think. It's not like they know who were are or know anything about us."

***

The next day was spend well, the first half mostly in bed and the bathroom while they both cashed in on previous promises made by the other person. They completely skipped on breakfast but by the time lunch came around it was obvious that they needed to get something substancial into their growling stomachs.

The other half was spend on a long walk in the woods, it was a beautiful hike through pine woods all the way down to the lake. It was the type of hike they could only do when they were just with the two of them. The walk would have been way too far and probably too boring for Henry to participate in. But both women enjoyed the time they spend together. Between work and raising Henry they didn't really have a lot of time to spend on their own to do something like this. They only returned to the Mansion when it was time for dinner and one last night before they headed back home.

***

"Mommy! Mama!" Henry came running down the driveway of the Prentiss mansion as soon as he saw them park the car; "You're finally here!"

The blonde chuckled; "Hi baby!"

Emily got out of the car as well and joined JJ while they watched Henry come running towards them. emily wrapped her arm around JJ's side; "As if it's been years since he's last seen us." Emily mentioned softly to JJ.

"Well, while time goes faster and faster for us, he's still at that age where a day still seems like an endless amount of time." JJ couldn't help but explain even if Emily didn't ask anything.

"I know." Henry finally reached them and Emily picked him up.

He wrapped his arms around Emily's neck and smiled at her; "I'm so glad you're back." He gave Emily a sloppy kiss on her cheek and hugged her again before he leaned over and wrapped his arms around his mother's neck. JJ easily took Henry from Emily and wrapped her arms around her son.

"Hi baby, missed you too. Tell me, how much did you miss us?" She ruffled his long blond hair and smiled at him.

Henry leaned back in JJ's arms and spread his arms as far as he possibly could and smiled at his mother; "I missed you this much and more."

"You know what? We missed you just as much." Emily answered with a huge smile. Together they started walking towards the front door of the mansion.

"Grandma and grandpa have coffee and cookies, we should hurry up. They are chocolate chip cookies. Mary already gave me one, she said I needed to taste to see if they were good." Henry explained with a smile. "They are good!" Finally the little brown blotches on his face were explained. Chocolate chip cookies, she should have known.

"Good, let's get inside quickly then." JJ put Henry back on his feet and allowed him to run away. Both of the women laughed and followed their son inside the Prentiss Mansion.

"Well that explains the stains on his cheek, I bet the chocolate chips were really yummy. There is one thing I know for sure. Mary doesn't need anyone to taste her cookies, they are the best and they always will be." She remembered that Mary had made those cookies when she was a little girl, no matter where they were in the world they would always taste the same. It would always feel like she'd arrived home, the whole house would smell from the baked goods.

Emily opened the door which Henry left ajar open and allowed JJ to pass her on their way inside. They walked by Edward's office down the hallway and saw him folding his newspaper. They both greeted Emily's father before they quickly followed Henry further inside the mansion. Edward greeted them and placed the paper on his dark solid wooden desk before he got up from the big leather chair. Even though he was no longer working he still loved to spend time in his office. He got up and followed the family into the den, where he knew his wife was reading a book until JJ's car drove into their driveway, Elizabeth had gotten up with Henry and had watched him as he ran down the hallway towards Emily and JJ. That had been her cue to return to the den. Mary knew that Emily and JJ had arrived and she was waiting for Emily, JJ, Henry and her husband to join her.

Edward followed Emily and JJ into the den, he smiled upon seeing his daughter and wife greeting each other, for years he'd hoped that this would become a reality. But it had always felt like he was hoping against better knowing. Who ever could have thought that Emily needed to come home with a woman to finally achieve that. The one thing his wife had always denied was the fact that their daughter was gay but it was also what had ultimately brought them closer together.

JJ turned around the second he entered the room and smiled at him. "Thank you for stepping up and taking care of Henry these past couple of days."

"It's no problem, really don't mention it he's a great kid. You can call upon us any time, also if you have to go out of town. Since Elizabeth doesn't have another posting we have a lot of spare time." Edward smiled; "I never thought that we would have a grandchild, much less be able to see them. I sure hope you don't mind that we call him that."

"Of course not. Emily sees Henry as her own. And since Will's parents have passed and mine are so far away it's nice to know that he has grandparents living close by. Besides Henry's adopted you two as his grandparents as well. He told us that his grandparents had coffee and home-made cookies for us." JJ answered with a relieved smile, offering to take care of a child and actually doing it were two completely different things especially with the kind of past they had with Emily was a child.

"It was really nice to have a kid in the house, we played games and watched an animated movie with him. And Mary made cookies with him and by the looks of his face he's already tasted some of them." Edward smiled while he looked at his wife, daughter and Henry.

"Yeah, he already spilled the beans about the cookies and Emily commented that it explained the stains on his face." JJ smiled; "Chocolate chip cookies, Emily's favourite. Though according to Emily none compare to the cookies Mary made. So I'm really looking forward to finally tasting them."

"Yeah, there is a secret ingredient which not even Emily knows even though she's made them a lot of times with Mary in the past."

Henry ran towards his mother and grabbed a hold of her shirt, he started pulling on it to get her attention; "Mom, mommy you and mama need to sit down so Mary can bring in the coffee and cookies. They are so good, you needs to taste them." He started pulling JJ towards the couch, when he passed Emily and Elizabeth he grabbed a hold of his mama's hand as well; "Mama, sit down or we won't get cookies."

"Honey, please wait a second let me say hi to Elizabeth first I'm pretty sure that we'll all get our cookies." JJ said to her son while she stepped sideways to allow Emily to pass her on her way to the couch with Henry. She smiled at the brunette, who returned her smile.

"Thank you, Elizabeth. For taking care of Henry." JJ was standing in front of the older Prentiss woman feeling a little awkward.

The older woman smiled and pulled JJ closer to her; "He's a delight, Jennifer. And like my husband already told you feel free to call upon us whenever you need help."

JJ hugged the older Prentiss woman and smiled; "Thank you so much." The blond looked down at her son and Emily who'd taken a seat on the couch. "Though I think we better sit down before my son throws a fit because he's afraid that he won't get any cookies."

"Yes! Sit down please. We needs to sit down, because I made cookies for everyone. But we won't get them unless we sit down!" All the adults quickly sat down on the couch and chairs. Once they sat down Mary appeared in the door opening with a tray filled with cups of coffee and a hot chocolate for Henry and even more importantly a plate filled with deliciously smelling cookies.

**_AN:_**I don't know if anyone is still reading this, I hope you are but I totally understand if you've given up. It was never my plan to make you wait so long till the next update. There is no explanation, you could call it a writers-block but it might be something else. I just felt uninspired and everything I wrote didn't do justice to the story I wanted to tell.

Thank you for taking an interest in my story.


	44. Chapter 44

**AN: Thank you for the encouraging reviews! Thank you for sticking around and I hope you will enjoy my newest chapter.  
**

**Before I forget, all mistakes are mine and I own nothing!  
**

**Chapter 44**

It was a few weeks later and their lives had gotten into a certain routine, as much of a routine it could become when on average you leave on a plane every other week or so to visit whatever police department needs your help. There had been a couple of instances where Emily had to give a seminar along with Rossi while JJ stayed home. And even one time where JJ had to go to a mandatory conference. It was the first time Emily and Henry spend three days in a row together without JJ there. Emily made a whole plan for the days she spend with Henry, they had visited the Zoo and went to a McDonald's afterwards. Of course JJ had called each night to talk to them, see how their day had gone and to tell them how much she missed them. There had been some difficult moments where Henry had missed his mommy but all in all the brunette had loved the experience as did Henry.

The night that JJ came back home they had dinner together and Henry had told her everything Emily and he had done. He even spilled the beans on all the times she gave him ice cream.

Henry had asked his mother if she had caught any bad guys, but how do you explain that you went to a conference. JJ tried to keep it simple; "Henry, I didn't catch any bad guys, I went away to talk to people to tell them about my job. Explain to them what we do." The blond thought that she did a very good job at explaining what she had done these past three days.

Henry watched her for a while as if deeply in thought; "Mommy, why didn't you just call them."

"I couldn't because I had to explain everything to them."

"But you can 'splain on the phone." Henry stated matter of factually.

"Well honey, you are right about that but I had to explain my job to a really big room filled with people and you can't talk to hundreds of people on the phone."

"But Aunty Pen talks to lots of people at the same time." Henry explained.

"Honey, that's all true but sometimes you have to go somewhere and tell people directly what you want them to know instead of talking to them on the phone. I know that's hard to understand but I have to go away sometimes, even if it isn't because I'm catching bad guys."

Emily placed a bowl of ice cream on the table in front of Henry, she quickly returned to the kitchen and came back with a bowl for JJ and herself. Henry focused on his ice cream and took a bite; "Okay." He answered with a shrug, while he continued eating. Emily and JJ just smiled at each other before they dug into their ice cream as well.

It was later that night when Emily was already in bed reading a book when JJ came in from the bathroom where she took a quick shower. She quickly got into bed next to Emily and leaned her head down on the brunette's shoulder. "Thanks for taking care of Henry."

"Don't thank me." Emily kissed JJ, she closed the book and placed it on her bedside table. "How was work?"

"Slow, I think we all got a chance to catch up on our paperwork, we did some phone councils but other than that it was pretty slow. I went out for lunch with Garcia and Derek. Hotch let me go a little early yesterday so that I could pick Henry up earlier and have some extra time with him. Which was really nice of him, it gave me time to make sure that I finished dinner early and we ate at the living room table while we watched a movie. He loved it, he really surprised me by not spilling the beans on that since you never let him have dinner in front of the television. He couldn't stop talking about that."

"Oh, so you spoiled my boy?"

"He's a little boy who missed his mommy, so his mama made sure that he missed you a little less and that time seemed to pass a little quicker." Emily shrugged with a smile.

"You did well, sweetie. I have to admit that I used to spoil him as well when Will just left us. I hated seeing him sad because he missed his daddy especially since I knew that in the end it would be better for all of us." JJ admitted to Emily with a smile.

"And it got better, especially for us." Emily answered.

JJ nodded; "It did." The blond went silent, she gazed straight ahead. The brunette was silent as well, her arm was loosely placed on JJ shoulder. They stayed like that for a while, neither one of them ready to break the silence while they were both caught up in their own train of thought. "Emily, we are doing fine, aren't we?"

The brunette watched the blond in surprise, she hooked her finger underneath JJ's chin and made sure that the blond was watching her; "Of course we are. What's up with this sudden question?"

"I don't know, something has been bothering me. I feel like I am ... everything is going so well and I feel like ehm ... like something is going to change. I feel like I'm waiting for the other proverbial shoe to drop."

"Jayje, I love you. I always have. I don't think it's us you need to worry about. We are fine, better than fine even." Emily watched JJ, the honesty of her statements was readable in her eyes; "At least ... I think we are." Suddenly she didn't feel so certain.

"We are fine, we really are. I just can't shake the feeling I have." Emily pulled her close and hugged the blond even tighter. "I love you, I love you so much."

"I love you too." They both maneuvered to a more comfortable position and laid down to rest, though Emily's arm never left JJ's shoulder and JJ's head rested comfortably on Emily's shoulder. She kissed the top of JJ's head and reached her hand out to switch the light off.

Emily and JJ spend the day at the mall with Henry. He'd just gone through a growth spurt and he was in dire need of new clothes and shoes. Last time JJ went for clothes shopping she'd just bought whatever she liked for Henry to wear. But this time it wasn't that easy, Henry had recently started to develop a very strong will. And he actually refused to wear some of the clothes she'd chosen. She knew that it was no use to buy the clothes because she really didn't want to go through a tantrum every time she wanted him to wear the clothes.

And honestly it didn't really help that Emily said that he shouldn't have to wear clothes if he didn't like them. The blond hadn't really agreed with that comment, even though she'd agreed that it was important for Henry to make choices but she wouldn't have used that exact wording. Those were the things that Henry picked up on and would use against her the first chance he got. He'd already surprised her a couple of times lately. It had taken a long time before he really started to talk but once he started it was hard to stop him.

He was really becoming his own little person, a fact which became more obvious each passing day. And JJ had to admit that she loved it, she wanted him to be his own little person with his own preferences.

Sunday had been spend mostly inside a castle of blankets and pillows build underneath the dinning room table. Henry had insisted that they had to have lunch inside his castle. Finally both Emily who had helped him build the 'castle' as well as JJ had joined him underneath the table to eat a sandwich and a bowl with cut up pieces of different fruits. However JJ had insisted that they would have dinner at the table. She really didn't feel like cleaning tomato sauce from the carpet. Henry hadn't agreed with his mother, he'd even thrown a fit when she'd told him to clean up the pillows, blankets and everything else he dragged underneath the table.

Eventually it had been Emily who cleaned up with Henry and she had also been the one who gave him his bath because he was about to throw another fit when JJ told him that she was going to give him his bath. He told her that he was still angry at her, in a way much similar to the way JJ herself had told him that she didn't like his behavior earlier on when he threw the first fit. JJ knew that he didn't mean it but it sure as hell hurt to hear him say such a thing. Emily had grabbed a hold of Henry before he could walk away and told him that he could not speak to his mother that way or anyone else for that matter. To be honest at first JJ had been too stunned to even react. Emily had told Henry that he had to say sorry to his mother. Henry had said sorry to his mother, albeit a tad bit reluctantly.

The fact that Emily had taken control of the situation had given JJ the chance to calm down eventually she found herself standing in the bathroom door leaning against the wall, her arms crossed in front of her chest while she watched Emily sitting besides the bathtub while she helped Henry who was splashing around. The brunette was drenched but both of them were laughing. "Hi mommy!"

"Hi sweetie, are you almost done?" JJ asked while she pushed herself away from the wall she was leaning against.

"Yes!" Henry answered with a grin, the blond picked up the towel and held it open for Henry, she bend down and picked him up out of the tub started to dry off the water that had spilled from the tub. JJ started to dry Henry off and helped him get dressed into his pajamas.

Emily bid Henry good night and made her way downstairs when she finished cleaning the bathroom. It didn't take long before JJ joined her on the couch with a bottle of wine and two glasses. Emily had already picked out a movie to watch. They relaxed on the couch, Emily sat down in the corner and JJ leaned against her. The brunette easily placed her arm around JJ's shoulder.

It was late that Sunday night when the doorbell rang, JJ and Emily who had been cuddling on the couch were surprised, they weren't expecting anyone. Especially not after ten in the evening on a Sunday night. Henry had been in bed for a while and the end credits to the movie they had been watching had already rolled by a while back. The screen had returned to the menu of the DVD a while ago but neither JJ nor Emily had noticed it. They had been too consumed in each other to notice anything besides each other.

The bell however had broken the spell and JJ was off the couch first, she quickly made her way to the front door to stop the noise from waking Henry up. And Emily wasn't far behind. Who knew who could be ringing their bell at this hour, in their line of work they had seen how wrong opening the door late at night could go one too many times.

She was surprised to see Will standing on the other side of the door. He wasn't usually the person to step by on a whim, especially not this late at night - it was a quarter before eleven. "Chére, can we talk?" He asked JJ - something was obviously bothering him. He was standing in the door opening, looking completely miserable. His shoulders were slumped, he wasn't standing straight and his hands were buried deep in his pockets. He was wearing an old shirt, faded jeans with holes in them and an jeans jacket. He didn't look like he usually did, he looked like a slob.

The blonds stomach dropped, this was what she'd been waiting for. Things were too good to be true and now the other shoe had finally dropped, this was it. This was what she had been afraid off ever since she broke her relationship with Will. She had tried to keep the negative thoughts out of her mind but it hadn't been easy, ever since she saw the state of Will's apartment she had been afraid that he wasn't dealing well with the situation. To her he seemed depressed and the smiles he'd give them seemed hollow they never reached his eyes. Except when he was with Henry, only then his smiles were real.

She was unable to say anything - her mouth had suddenly gone bone dry and she couldn't swallow - she just stepped backwards to allow him to step inside past her nevertheless. Will stepped into the house that had once been his, or at least the house where he used to live. He nodded his hello when he passed Emily to the living room where he sat down on the couch which had previously been occupied by the two women. His head was bent forward, his elbows rested on his upper legs while his hands were clenched together he waited for JJ and Emily to join him. He nervously rubbed his scruffy beard while he waited for them to sit down.

Emily held JJ back in the hallway and silently talked to her; "We'll deal with this. Together." Emily said while she pulled JJ close to her side and kissed her on her cheek, the blond nodded. She was suddenly feeling sick - actually physically feeling sick. She sat down on the chair across from the couch, Emily choose to sit down on the armrest - she wanted to be close to JJ - since Will had chosen to sit down on the couch this was the only way she could be close to her. She really hoped that her support wasn't needed - at least not in the way she feared - but if her fears were true she wanted to be as close to JJ as she possible could be.

"I'm sorry, I know it's late and I probably should have called before I dropped in on the two of you. But I needed to talk to you as soon as possible and I didn't want to loose my nerve or wait any longer." Will talked softly, his thick Southern accent was highlighted by his emotional state which made it stand out even more. He eyed the contents of the table, two glasses of wine, a plate with an assortment of cheeses and a bowl with crackers. The menu screen of a romantic movie was playing on the television, he had obviously dropped in on a romantic evening between the two women. He nervously rubbed his beard again and stared straight ahead.

JJ held her breath, her hands were tightly clenched together, while her eyes scanned Will's appearance. The longer she watched him the more worried she became. She had been afraid of this moment - for a while she had been wondering about Will's state of mind. He'd seemed so down these last couple of months, from his appearance to the apartment that he was living in. If you could even call it that, But his next words were not at all what she expected them to be.

"I decided that I'm going to move back to New Orleans." He shifted in his seat; "This has never been my town, I've missed the feel of the city, my home - there is no place like home. I miss everything about it and I think that there is still a lot that can be done or improved down there and I know that I can help. When I was down there with Henry showing him everything ... I realized how much I actually missed it." The room suddenly fell silent, Will had said what he wanted to say, JJ and Emily were stunned into silence. Whatever they had expected him to say, nothing could have prepared them for this. JJ had though that he was going to fight her for custody. She couldn't stop the feeling he had given her these last couple of months and every time she saw him she was waiting for him to drop the bomb. If he had gotten custody, probably by claiming that she was an unfit mother because of her work she expected him to move away but not right now, not so suddenly.

"You are what! You're moving ... to New Orleans! Halfway across the fucking country! What's going to happen now, Wiil?" JJ exclaimed, she finally released the breath she had been holding. JJ stood up, within a split second she was standing up. Her fists clenched at her sides, the knuckles were turning white. JJ's hand wrapped around Emily's tightly. If Will was moving all the way to New Orleans, what would that mean for Henry and ultimately for herself and Emily. Would there be a nasty custody battle or would they be able to agree but how would that work if they lived way too far apart to make any kind of arrangement. She was nervous. One thing was for sure she would never give Henry up without a fight, so far they had managed pretty good. They talked to each other and made arrangements together - if work interfered they could call the other person to make sure that Henry was cared for - that was why everything had worked so well. She was proud that they had acted like adults around each other, even if it hadn't always been easy. But they had lived close to each other, literally a phone call was enough to change plans and to arrange things differently. But how could that work if one of them decided to move halfway across the country to a different state.

"Yes, I am, I handed in my two weeks notice this past Wednesday." Will sighed; "It's the best thing I can do for myself right now. When I was with you and Henry, being here didn't bother me all that much, but right now I can't even get myself to unpack the boxes in my apartment. I've been staring at stacks of boxes for weeks, months even. I contemplated everything that happened and came to the conclusion that living here doesn't make me happy. I moved her because you told me that you were pregnant. I had visions of a future with you and our child together, of marrying you but that didn't happen and now I am a part time father."

"So what about Henry?" She asked him the question she was afraid to hear the answer to. "He makes you happy, doesn't he? Doesn't he deserve to have his daddy close by? Or... ehm ..."

"He does, Jayje. Of course he makes me happy, but there is only so much time I can spend with him since we broke up." Will looked up and noticed the look on his ex's face; "Oh, Jayje … Henry stays here obviously, he's a momma's boy. I can't take him away from you." Will was very determined in his statement. JJ sank back down on her chair, her legs no longer had the strength to support her weight, both Emily and JJ were finally able to take a relieved breath; "This is my choice, I can come over here and visit. I know it might be difficult but I promise that this does not mean I'm abandoning my son. I think that even though I might see Henry less I will turn out to be a better father to him. And I hope that the two of you will take Henry to visit me as well every once in a while. It's not that far, we did it when we were dating. I know that I might be asking a lot of you but I know that it's for the best."

"You're just going to leave Henry here, with me. Oh God!" A relieved exclamation left JJ's mouth before she could stop it. The tension finally left her body and the words left her mouth before she could stop herself. The blond slumped back into the chair leaning against Emily - who's arm automatically wrapped around her shoulder. Her face turned a darker shade of red the second she realized that she had actually exclaimed her relief that loudly. She bowed her head in shame, she knew that it couldn't have been an easy decision for Will to make.

Will chuckled; "What, Jayje? Did you really think that I was going to fight you or take him away from you?"

"Yes ... yeah, I'm sorry." JJ felt even more ashamed now; "I'm sorry. But it's always been in the back of my mind." JJ admitted softly, she felt extremely uneasy. "I guess it's every parents worst fear, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is. Chére, Believe me, I would never do such a thing I value the relationship we still have and I want to make the right choices for Henry. But I think that it is quite normal to feel that way, we both see the consequences of broken homes in our job." Will looked up, he stared straight at JJ before he spoke; "I still love you … no hear me out." He said when he noticed that JJ wanted to say something; "I know that I may have never said this before, I still love you and I want you to be happy. I know that you are happy now, with Emily. Even I can't deny that, it's obvious."

He had a lopsided grin on his face, he wanted to seem confident with his choice, but the smiled didn't quite reach his eyes. And while he might be able to hide his pain for Emily, he sure as hell couldn't fool JJ. She could see the hidden pain in his eyes, in his features.

JJ contemplated her reply but she wanted to make sure that Will knew how worried she had been and especially the reason why; "Will, I'm sorry. I want you to understand why I was so worried. But we all know that you didn't like the thought of me dating Emily. For many men that is enough reason to start a custody battle. So yes, I was kind of expecting something like that to happen, especially when I noticed that you weren't dealing well. I honestly thought that you were going to try to take Henry away from me, I believed that it was anger that was eating at you."

Will's head snapped up in shock, he probably hadn't realized that he had worried JJ so much by his behavior; "I'm sorry, I never meant to worry you."

"Oh, for God's sake, Will. This can't be a surprise to you. I work with profilers, we've known for a while that you weren't okay." JJ exclaimed in reaction to his shocked look. "It was obvious in the way your apartment looked, it was hard to look passed the boxes which were still standing in the living room. You weren't taking care of yourself. What was I supposed to thing, Will!" JJ threw her hands up in the air, in a frustrated gesture.

He got up and made his way around the living room table, he sat down in front of JJ on the table and took her hands in his a gesture which made sure that he had JJ's full attention; "Chére, I know that I gave you and Emily every reason to be afraid that I would do something like that and I am sorry for that. However there is no reason to be afraid now, as much as I hate to admit it, I have seen how much Henry adores being with Emily. And I have also seen how important she's become to him and I know that Emily will keep you and Henry safe when I'm not around." Will averted his eyes towards Emily and he smiled, there was truth in his eyes this time. "You stepped up and took care of my son as if he was your own and you didn't have to do that. I'm glad that I know"

"Trust me, it's what I will always do and you never have to ask me to do it, I have always loved and cared for Henry as if he was my own and that will never change. In my opinion it's what you do if you engage in a relationship with someone who has a child." Emily spoke for the first time since Will sat down in their living room.

"I know, and that is also why I know that going against you two in a custody battle would be useless. Because it would be me against you and since I'm the one who's moving across the country..." Will said while he averted his eyes back towards his ex-girlfriend; "I would most likely lose every chance I have to see my son grow up. I am not prepared to take that risk and it's my choice to move away. I like the way we have been able to talk about Henry and discuss our plans, like civilized grown-ups instead of hiring a bunch of lawyers to do the fighting for us. Not many broken families manage to actually do that. I don't want to be those parents who resent each other and who put their kids in the middle of their battle." Will smiled; "I've seen it too many times on the job, I would never want to put my son in a situation like that. So don't worry about it, he's staying right here in his home. All I'm asking is that I will be able to see him and that you will consider visiting me. At least for as long as Henry isn't old enough to travel alone."

"Of course you will be able to see him." JJ answered her ex with a relieved smile on her face, she felt like a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders. Their hands were still linked while they looked at each other, it was almost as if Emily wasn't in the room. She didn't mind, she knew that Will and JJ would always share a connection because of Henry.

The Southern man released JJ's hands and got up from his seat on the table and made a few steps to the door. "Thank you for listening, for giving me a chance to explain everything and I'm sorry for interrupting your evening." The lopsided grin was back on his face this time the smile did reach his eyes.

JJ got up from her place on the chair, she stepped forward towards Will, she wrapped her arms around his neck and placed a kiss on his cheek; "I'm the one who's supposed to say thank you." Will was surprised by the portrayal of affection, but he recovered quickly and wrapped his arms around JJ and hugged her back. It was the first time since they broke off their relationship that they had shown any sort of affection towards each other. And Emily had to admit that it was strange to see, even though she knew that JJ had no feelings towards Will, she only saw him as the father of her son. He had after all given JJ something which she could never give her. They had a connection, an unbreakable bound.

"I'll let you know when I leave. I know that you have to make arrangements for Henry when I am not here to pick him up when you have to leave for a case. So I will give you a notice as soon as I can, I quit my job in a week and a half but it will probably take longer to make arrangements for my move. I'm sorry if I ruined your evening with me dropping by so unexpected."

"Don't worry about it, we'll manage." Emily spoke up with a confident smile.

"I'm sure you will. Well, I better leave you two alone now." Will said with a nod of his head while he made his way into the hallway.

Before he could reach the hallway however he was stopped by JJ; "Will, did you meet someone?" The question had been on her mind ever since he told them that he wanted to move back. She hadn't planned on asking him but the question had left her mouth before she could stop it.

Will turned around, his hands buried deep in his jeans pockets. He reached his hand up and scratched his cheek; "No, well yeah … Well, I met someone, it's complicated. I don't know, we'll see what happens."

"Will, that's a good thing! I'm happy for you." The blond smiled genuinely at him.

The Southern man smiled back and scratched behind his ear; "It's not a relationship, I don't know if it'll ever be a relationship. She's someone I knew back in High school, we got reacquainted when I was in New Orleans with Henry. She was invited to that party I told you about, a bunch of friends - she just happened to be there. But I don't want you to think that this is my main reason to move back. I mean it's not even a relationship yet … like I said it's complicated but it has nothing to do with the reason …"

"Will, don't apologize, there is no reason you have every right to move on. Who am I to judge, when I am the first who moved on." The blond smiled at her ex; "Oh, Will I want you to see Henry before you leave. He might not understand fully what's happening but don't keep him out of the loop because of that."

"Of course, I'll call you to let you know when I have time. I have to work a week and a half and then I'll make the arrangements. I let you know what my ideas are and we can set a date and time." Will smiled - flashing them that lopsided grin while he turned around and within a couple of seconds the door closed behind him.

Emily and JJ were once again alone, they fell into each other's arms and the tears of relief rolled down their cheeks. The fact that Will hadn't been coping well had worried them both more than they wanted to admit. "I'm so happy!" JJ exclaimed her arms were wrapped tightly around Emily's neck. "I've been pinching myself since he started talking. Of all the things he could have said this was not at all what I expected him to say. Not at all, not in my wildest dreams."

"I know. Me neither, I was sure that he was here with a completely different reason." Emily sounded just as relieved - in all honestly she had been ready to call in legal support, that was the thing about being a Prentiss you always knew who to call when you needed legal support. Her family had many acquaintances who worked for law firms in any type of field. She was sure that her mother could have provided her with some advice in that department. She wiped away the tears of pure happiness that rolled down the other woman's cheeks and kissed her soundly. The only thing that put a damper on things right now was the fact that Henry wouldn't be able to see Will as much as he used to see him. Only time could tell how Henry was going to deal with that, but that was honestly something they couldn't change.

"Let's put this in the kitchen and go upstairs, what do you think about that?" Emily said with a quick nod to the wine, glasses and the cheese that was still standing on the table and the DVD which was still on pause on the television.

"That sounds like a wonderful plan. But there's no way I'll be going to sleep right now I need to wind down first." The blond kissed the brunette.

"Hmm... just go upstairs, I know just the thing... which might help you wind down." She turned the blond towards the staircase and send her off with an affectionate slap against her bottom. A soft squeal escaped JJ's mouth before she ascended the stairs in a fit of giggles. Emily turned off the television and cleaned up the things which were left on the table. She quickly placed the wine bottle on the kitchen counter and put the cheese into the fridge before she disposed of the plates into the dishwasher.

Emily wanted to turn off the lights and lock the door and just go upstairs when she changed her initial plans, she grabbed the bottle of wine and two glasses. Once she arrived upstairs she made her way into their bedroom. She quickly stepped into their en-suite bathroom where she placed the glasses and the bottle next to the tub. It didn't take long before the bath water was running and the aroma of the bath salt filled the small room.

JJ smiled when she noticed Emily's plans for the rest of the night, she started to light the candles which were strategically placed around the bathroom and bedroom. Emily walked up to the younger woman, she wrapped her arms around her from behind and pulled her close, she hooked her fingers behind the long blond tresses and slowly pulled them aside. She placed her lips on the newly exposed skin and kissed the blond.

The brunette guided the blond to the bathroom, she slowly started to undress her. She hooked her fingers under the hem of JJ's shirt, she pushed the loose fabric up, her hands touched JJ's abdomen and revealed the naked skin underneath. JJ's started to fumble with Emily's clothes as well, she pushed the fabric down the brunette's shoulders and placed soft kissed on the newly exposed skin. However neither one of them could stop the way they felt and it didn't take long before all the clothes ended up on the floor.

Their naked bodies sunk into the hot water, Emily embraced the blond who relaxed into her arms. Jennifer closed her eyes and leaned her head back against Emily's shoulder. She sighed contently, a smile played on her lips. Emily hands roamed over JJ's lean body, the blond seemed to relax even more.

"I told you that I knew a way to help you wind down." The brunette said softly the younger woman while her hand lazily played with the long blond tresses. They sat in silence for a while, both with their own thoughts. The silence had lasted for a while, but Emily wanted to know what JJ was thinking.

"Who says I'm thinking anything?" The blond replies softly, the smile is still playing on her face, a smile which will probably stay there for a while - with good reason of course.

Emily smiled, while her hands roamed over JJ's body; "Well Jayje, you know when Reid does that thing were he's thinking really deep and you can almost hear the cogs spinning in his brain? Yeah ... well the same thing's happening here."

"Emily! Please don't talk about Reid when were in the tub or ... doing anything intimate really ... I love the genius but this just gives me the creeps." The blond actually physically shuddered; "But okay, I admit it, I was thinking." The blond traced a pattern with her finger on the brunettes thigh. "I was thinking about how happy I am right now. Everything is absolutely perfect. I'm so glad that this whole mess with Will has finally been cleared up, I really thought that we were going to have to fight him to keep Henry. Or at least go to the court to get legal support and that is something I never wanted to happen."

"I know. To be honest, I was afraid as well. I kept my mouth shut because I didn't want to worry you but Will was right." Emily kissed JJ's shoulder; " I would have given anything to make sure that you could keep Henry. If me being with you was hurting you I would have stepped back. Even if that meant that I had to move back to my apartment, keep my distance from you and Henry. I would have done that too." Emily finally admitted how scared she had truly been. She knew that if JJ lost Henry she would be the one who would have blamed herself for that lost. After all if she hadn't reciprocated JJ's feelings Will and JJ might have still been together - or they might have at least found a way to work out their problems - and this wouldn't have been an issue. She tried not to live with 'what-if's' but in this case it was really difficult to ignore them.

"Really?" Jennifer pulled herself up and turned around so she could watch the brunette.

"Of course Jayje, you might not have told me about your fears but it is my job to know them. Besides I didn't want to worry you more than you were already stressing yourself out but I was afraid that Will was going to try and get Henry away from us. Especially when he told us that he was going to move. I'm not even his mom but my heart stopped beating I can only imagine what you must have felt like."

JJ smiled sadly; "Don't ever say that again, he adopted you as his mom just as much as you take care of him as if he was your own. You are his mom by all means and honestly I would have been worried if you hadn't been afraid of losing him." She leaned in and kissed the brunette passionately.

**AN: Let me know what you think. **


	45. Chapter 45

**Chapter 45**

"Jayje?" Emily rounded the corner to the living room with her cell phone still in her hand. She had left the room a few minutes earlier to make a call and had expected JJ to still be on the couch. She frowned, placed the phone on the table and turned on her heels while she listened. She was only met by silence. She stood in the middle of the room, that was when she realized that she could hear Henry squealing outside. She smiled at the obviously happy squeals the young boy was making. Emily made her way over to the window, a smile graced her face when she noticed that JJ and Henry were outside playing soccer. It was obvious that JJ had a lot of skill even if she was making sure that she kept the game fun for Henry. Who was just running after the ball kicking it whenever he was close enough without paying any attention to it's destination.

It had been almost a week since Will visited them, a week without any worries at least none about Will and his impending leave. The fact that Will came by to tell them that he was going to move back to New Orleans certainly changed a few things. Sure they had to figure out a way to take care of Henry when they were away from home for work, but that was not something they worried about. They knew that they would find a way to deal with it together. Emily couldn't wipe the smile of her face while she watched JJ and Henry running around the yard outside for a while before she decided to join them. She grabbed her coat from the rack in the hallway and made her way outside. Henry immediately ran towards her, he pulled on her coat and attempted to drag her to the ball all the while he claimed that she had to help him as soon as she opened the door. He claimed that mommy was way better than he was. The fact was that so far he had made three goals and JJ had only made one. Of course that had more to do with JJ not really trying than anything else. But Henry was at that age were winning was more important - and the bigger the win the better it was. Just last week a simple game of memory had turned into a massive fit when Henry didn't choose the right card. He made the mistake of picking the card next to the one he needed to collect a pair and quickly wanted to change his choice but JJ wouldn't let him. She was convinced that it was important for him to learn how to play games the right way and that loosing was part of playing. Henry became incredibly aggravated and threw the cards across the table while he was stomping his foot. Tears had rolled down his cheeks while his face had turned a deep shade of red. Emily had never really seen Henry act that way, surely he had been mad a couple of times thrown some fits, but nothing like this. Not over something so unimportant. Henry had actually tried to get Emily to defend him by begging her to allow him to change the cards, Emily had refused which made him cry even harder. To the point where they both had been afraid that he wouldn't be able to breath if he didn't calm down. Eventually a time out was what had calmed him down a couple of minutes sitting on the bottom of the staircase with nothing to do while JJ refused to let him go had done the trick. As much as it had hurt JJ to hear her son say that he didn't like her she knew that this would continue to happen if they didn't stop it. Last weeks event had shown them both what could happen and this time both women were prepared for his reaction to loosing.

For a while they ran around the yard Henry and Emily against JJ. At one point Emily made sure that JJ could pass her and score a goal. When JJ made another goal it was three against three. The smile on Henry's face fell as soon as JJ scored that third goal. Tears were brimming in his eyes and he quickly picked the ball up and refused to put it down. That was until both of his moms tried logic on him, if he didn't put the ball down and play the game there was no way he could win it. Henry furrowed his brow and seemed to be thinking really hard about the logic behind that statement and eventually he placed the ball on the ground and gave it a good kick. Which they celebrated loudly even though it was obvious that JJ let them win. Henry had learned a lesson - at least for now - he now knew that continuing the game might give him victory in the end. But if he refused to continue the game he would loose.

Eventually it became time to go back inside, Henry sat down on the living room floor with some of his toys while Emily and JJ concentrated on dinner. Emily was chopping up the ingredients for an oven dish while JJ sat down on the counter to watch the brunette. She loved watching the brunette while she was preparing a meal it was as if she didn't have a single care in the world when she was making dinner. JJ had already set the table even though the dish that Emily was working on would still need some time in the oven before it was done.

"Oh, before I forget. I did it."

"You did it?" JJ asked in confusion; "That's very informative, am I now supposed to know what the 'it' is you're talking about?"

"Ehm, probably not." Emily answered with a goofy smile; "Sorry, that was really not very informative." She placed the knife on the cutting board and turned towards JJ. She watched her for a couple of seconds with a smile on her face before she moved closer, she placed her hands on top of JJ's thighs and moved even closer to the blond; "What I meant to say was that I called my real estate agent and I put my apartment on the market. She told me that it's going to be sold in a matter of weeks."

"What, weeks? Is she for real, has she even checked the listings lately? How is that possible, the market went down the drain years ago. No one sells an apartment that fast."

"Well, it's a very ... it has a view on the Capitol, believe me people want that apartment." Emily had wanted to say something else but she stopped herself just in time. Her apartment was an expensive one, it wasn't really big but it was one of the apartments with a private parking and a guard in the lobby. Which gave it a couple of advantages that were worth a lot of money to the right people. And those people had money - always, even after the economic state the country had been in. She wasn't really worried about it. At first she had decided to keep the apartment because they were not officially living together at least not as far as the bureau was concerned. And when they finally made it official for their colleagues she had decided that she was going to sell her apartment but the whole situation with Will and her worries about it had made her decide to wait. Emily wanted to keep the apartment to make sure that she had a place to go to if Will decided that he was going to the court and claim that JJ was an unfit mother because of her relationship with Emily. You never knew what someone would do to get custody these days. But now that Will told them what his plans were she finally felt secure enough to sell the apartment. She wouldn't need it for a back-up.

"So this is for real." JJ said - it wasn't a question - while she slid off the counter top and stepped forward, her arms wrapped around Emily's body.

The brunette mirrored the blond and kissed the top of her head. "This has been real for a long long time, honey."

"I know, but it doesn't get any more real than this." JJ replied, Emily's arms were still around them. "You are now officially stuck with me and you have no place to go." She claimed triumphantly.

"Oh my God! What did I get myself into!" Emily exclaimed which earned her a slap to her shoulder from the giggling blond.

The food was temporarily forgotten.

It was a couple of days later when JJs phone rang, she checked the caller ID and was relieved when it stated that it was Will who was calling her and not Hotch with a case. She quickly pushed the button and took the call, she had been reading a book in the living room while Emily and Henry went out to get the groceries. "Hi Will," She greeted the Southern man as soon as the connection was established. She asked him how he was doing and listened to his answer, for the first time in a long time he actually sounded happy. It was clear that now that the choice was made and his plans were out in the open a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders. She couldn't remember the last time that he had sounded this happy, it was probably right after Henry had been born before their relationship took a dive.

"Well, I am almost done. I have given most of my furniture to people who could use it. My clothes and personal belongings are packed, I was just wondering if I could put some of the stuff I can't take with me in my car in your garage for a little while?" Will explained the problem he was facing, his truck could of course only hold so many boxes. Some of his stuff had already been brought down to New Orleans in the last week by a friend of Will who had made the drive up to DC to help him with his move. Those things were already in his new apartment waiting for him to arrive.

JJ frowned while she listened, it was not what she had expected him to ask but she was sure that they would get to the next item on his list sooner rather than later. His impending travel back home meant that he would leave Henry with her and Emily. Both of the women had been relieved but they had asked him to see Henry before he left and that he would have to be the one to talk to the small child to explain to him what was happening. "Sure, no problem."

"I promise, I'll come and pick them up soon, I just need somewhere to store it till I get everything sorted out in New Orleans."

"Will, really it's no problem. You can pick your boxes up when you visit Henry. Maybe we can even bring some of them with us, when we come to visit you depending on how we get there of course." JJ said, she and Emily had talked about going down to New Orleans to visit Will soon.

"Okay, so that brings me to my next question, I am planning on leaving Monday morning so as I promised I would like to see Henry this weekend, but he can't stay with me because I don't have any furniture left at my place. Would it be okay if I pick him up on Saturday do some fun stuff with him, then bring him back in the evening and pick him up again in the morning?"

"Will, were are you going to be sleeping?" JJ asked while she listened to his explanation.

"I'll book a room somewhere..." Will replied back; "I'll be fine, I still have one of those air-beds here at the apartment."

"You know what, this might be weird so if you don't feel comfortable feel free to say no but how about you stay here Saturday and Sunday night. It'll give you some extra time with Henry and you don't have to spend extra money on a hotel room or sleep on one of those crappy air-beds. Believe me you wouldn't want to drive all the way to New Orleans with a nagging back pain." JJ reasoned with the man she once loved.

He sighed and was silent for a moment as if he was contemplating his answer; "Well, you certainly have a point there but only if Emily is okay with it too."

"Leave her to me, I am sure that she will agree with me."

"There is something else I want to ask the both of you. You want me to talk to Henry, which I completely understand - I need to be the one to explain to him why he won't be able to see his daddy as much as he's used to seeing me. But I was thinking that it might be easier for him to grasp if the both of you are there as well. So I was thinking - wondering actually if we could talk to him Sunday evening?" Will asked, he sounded a little unsure of his request, he had never really asked them to do anything for him since JJ and he broke up.

"Like I said before I think that we should be a team when it comes to these type of things, and I also believe that it would make the whole situation easier on him. At least if we are all here he will know that we are not mad at each other, I know that it'll be hard on him nevertheless but ... I think it's a good idea to tackle it together."

Will chuckled at the soccer reference before he continued; "Could I talk to Emily for a moment? I would like to explain all of this to her in person."

"Emily's not here right now, she's grocery shopping with Henry. But I can ask her to call you back or I could talk it over with her, Will I'm pretty sure that she will be fine with having you here for a couple of days. We all know were we stand, don't we?" JJ reasoned with the Southern man.

"I know but I think I owe it to Emily, she's really surprised me Jen. I never thought that she and I would get along. I really didn't like her because I felt that she took my family away from me ... but she didn't. Things would have never worked out between us in the end, the love you have for her is the way love should be. That was not what we had." Will sighed, it was quite a confession he was making to his ex but he wanted her to know how serious he was; "I can't think of a better person to step into the life of my son, I know that she will treat him like her own flesh and blood and that his safety and happiness goes above all else."

"She does Will, she really does." JJ blinked away the tears which threatened to fall. She was feeling extremely emotional by Will confession, she had been so worried but she now could see a future where she and Emily would be able to raise Henry with Will still in the picture even if he choose to move away. She had been so taken by the way that Will - the most unlikely candidate for a confession like that about Emily - had opened his heart to her as well. She wiped her eyes and wanted to say something when the door opened and Henry ran into the living room, his coat and boots still on. He saw JJ sitting on the couch and ran towards her, the little boy jumped half way on the couch and half on JJ. The blond let out a puff of air when Henry's elbow jabbed her in the stomach. "Ouch! Henry, you can't just jump on someone." She quickly wiped away the tears that had threatened to fall and wrapped her arm around Henry in an uncomfortable hug.

"Sorry, my fault," The brunette said with a smile while she leaned against the door jab, her brow was raised in question but JJ simply nodded her head in answer and smiled. "I told him to give you a super big hug because I was sure that you had missed us very very much." She explained it with a mischievous grin on her face. She stepped closer and wanted to bend down to kiss JJ on her lips when she noticed the forgotten phone. "Oh, sorry you were on the phone, I had no idea. Come on Henry let's take off your coat and boots and then when mommy's done calling we can give her another super big hug." Emily said to Henry while she held out her hand for the small child to take and smiled apologetically at JJ.

"No, wait. It's Will. He wanted to talk to you. Let me take Henry with me." JJ said with a smile to the brunette, who could only reply with a confused look. "Will as you probably heard they just arrived home, I can give you Emily now if you want?"

She handed the phone to Emily, the confused frown seemed to have settled on her brow permanently. But JJ felt that it was not her place to tell what the call was about since it would take away the reason why Will wanted to talk to her.

"Mama, is that daddy? I wants to talk to daddy!" Henry exclaimed while he pulled on the coat which Emily was still wearing and tried to reach for the phone in her hand.

The brunette wanted to hand the phone to Henry when the blond interfered; "Baby, let's get you out of your coat first and when Emily is done talking you can talk to daddy for as long as you want how does that sound?"

The brunette reached the phone up to her ear and listened for a second to make sure that Will was still there. "Will ... ehm hi. Jayje said you wanted to talk to me about something?" Emily asked the Southern man who had patiently been waiting for her to answer the line while she tried to get rid of her coat one handed. Eventually it was JJ who came to her rescue and the brunette sans coat could finally drop down on the couch.

"Yes. That's right. I need to ask you a couple of questions and I want an honest answer because I don't want to ... ehm well I wouldn't want you to feel uncomfortable in your own home with the situation especially since JJ and I used to be together. So please give me an honest answer, either way is fine with me..."

"Well, firstly explain to me what it is you want my opinion on and I will give you a honest answer." His rambling certainly made her feel better, this couldn't be something bad. Even though JJ's eyes had seemed damp she hadn't said a word and she didn't really seem sad or angry just emotional. It all comforted her and all in all her initial feeling of nervousness was subdued till it was no longer something she worried about.

"Well ehm ... I asked JJ if I could pick Henry up Saturday morning and bring him back in the evening. Part of my belongings are already on it's way to New Orleans and there are a couple of things left but those are only boxes. I wanted to bring Henry home because he couldn't stay with me since there is no furniture left. I asked JJ if it would be okay if I picked him up on Sunday again ... Jayje offered the guest room to me for the weekend when I told her that I was going to get a hotel room or use the air-bed for Saturday and Sunday night. I'll leave on Monday morning with the last of my belongings."

"Sure, no problem. You can stay here for the weekend." Emily answered quickly, she could only be glad that Will wanted to be the one to ask her this question instead of leaving it to JJ to fend for him. Which she was sure JJ had offered to him as well. "You can stay with us, it'll give you more time to spend with Henry and given that it will be harder to do so in the coming weeks JJ and I will be happy to help you out."

"Thank you, I can't imagine this whole thing being easy on you."

"Will, I wouldn't call it easy either - not for me nor for you, you used to live here with Jayje and Henry and now I am living here - but you are Henry's father and I knew that you would always be in the picture when I started dating Jayje. Just like it can't be easy for you to ask us to help you out. I appreciate the fact that you wanted to ask me yourself, I know we're not friends but I really appreciate it." Emily admitted to the Southern man who sighed in relief.

Will suddenly sounded happier than he had a minute ago; "It might sound weird but seeing how you are with Jayje and you are Henry's mama maybe we should consider seeing each other as friends. We are after all going to be in each other's lives for a long time."

JJ and Henry passed from the hallway to the kitchen; "Can I talk to daddy now?" Henry asked his mother with a tiny pout on his face. "How about I get us something to drink and a cookie and when mama's done talking to daddy you can talk to him?"

"Chocolate chip?" Henry looked up at his mother with big round - almost pleading - eyes.

A chuckle erupted from JJ's mouth; "Yes honey ... you truly are your mama's boy. Of course we have chocolate chip cookies! Have we ever not had them since mama moved in?" JJ referred to Emily's favorite cookies which also turned out to be Henry's favored cookies. JJ placed Henry on the stool at the kitchen counter and told him to sit still. She quickly reached into the fridge to retrieve some juice before she quickly turned back to Henry. She poured the juice into two glasses and handed the smallest with the figured from the 'Cars' movie to Henry before she pulled out the box of cookies. Emily watched the whole process while she listened to Will on the other side of the line, Emily smiled while she answered him; "I would like that too."

"Good. So ehm ... as friends I have one more request."

"Oh damn, I knew that there was a reason why you wanted to be friends all of the sudden!" Emily exclaimed with a chuckle; "I'm just kidding, you better get used to it now that we're friends."

"Yes, you walked right into that one, didn't you!" Will joined the brunette and laughed along with her; "I was thinking of telling Henry about my move on Sunday evening and I asked JJ if she wanted to be there as well, for support. I think that it will be good for Henry to see us all together." They had long since passed the time where JJ was the one taking Henry back and forth between their home and Will's, lately if needed to be Emily would pick him up at Will's apartment as well. It had been a slow process but Will and she came a long way and she knew that they would be in each other's lives for a long time.

Emily chuckles; "Will, we'll be here to help you and of course for Henry. No problem. Just make sure that you'll get everything packed and we'll see you Saturday morning around ten?"

"Ten sounds perfect. Thanks Emily." Will answered gratefully.

"Will, don't thank me. The fact that you allow me to be in your sons life is all the thanks I need." Emily replied honestly.

"Okay, I will see you Saturday morning. Can I talk to the little tyke now? I heard his somewhat impatient request earlier."

Emily got up from the couch and made her way to the kitchen counter, with a smile on her face she approached Henry. She was standing right behind him and brushed through his hair; "I'm sorry Will, he's too busy eating my favorite chocolate chip cookies. I don't think he can handle a phone right now."

"No mama!" Henry dropped the cookie on the counter top; "I want to talk to daddy!"

Emily chuckled and handed Henry the phone. JJ smiled but slapped Emily against her upper arm; "That was mean! You should have seen his face, I was afraid that he was going to choke in his cookie." Emily reached out to the box with cookies and took one. Henry was sitting right in front of her with the phone in his hand talking to his daddy while she continued brushing her fingers through his long hair.

JJ moved closer to Emily and kissed her on her cheek, next she turned her attention to Henry. She picked him up from the stool and walked him into the living room while he started to giggle into the phone. She placed him on the couch and Henry told his daddy through a fit of laughter what had happened. JJ tickled him before she walked back to the kitchen where she slapped Emily on her hand when she reached into the box of cookies again while she was still chewing on the last one. The brunette had been startled and certainly hadn't expected that, she actually dropped the cookie, this time JJ proved that she was quicker. She was already munching on it before Emily realized what had happened; "You're getting slow, agent Prentiss." JJ taunted the older woman with a grin.

"You play dirty, agent Jareau. I was distracted and besides that I am inside my home, no need to be on high alert. At least I didn't think that I would have to be at alert." The brunette replied with a smile while she lifted the lid once more and grabbed another cookie.

"Seriously Em, stop eating so many cookies because Henry will want them too and I will not let him spoil his dinner because of some cookies. Even though I know they are your favorites." JJ started to place the groceries in the fridge and the cabinets while Emily stayed at the counter top. She seemed deep in thought, the blond kept an eye on her but continued to put the groceries away. It was at least ten minutes later when Henry called out that he was done calling, JJ quickly went into the living room and said her goodbye's to Will before she hung up the phone and placed it back in the cradle. "Honey, why don't you play with your cars for a while." JJ suggested to Henry, the little boy agreed and started to pull the box with his cars to the middle of the room. JJ smiled while she watched her son play with his toys for a minute before she turned her attention back to Emily. She laid her hand on the brunette shoulder - she flinched; "What's going on in that pretty head?"

"Nothing, just thinking."

"About Will?"

"Yes. He asked me if we could be friends ... well actually he asked me a lot of things. But that one sure as hell stood out." Emily answered with a frown.

"We've all come a long way since he and I broke up and we got together. I know that there was anger from his side ... and dislike from your side. But you two have managed to be civilized to one another and with Will going back to New Orleans he has proven that he trusts you. I really don't think that a friendship is that far off." JJ answered with a smile. "Besides it would make things easier when he comes over for the weekend."

"Well ... yeah, I think that it might be weird or something but I'm going to try and be friends with him. He's a good man." Emily chuckled at her own admission; "Wow! If you had told me a year and a half ago that I would ever say that I would have laughed so hard."

"Honey, there are a lot of things which would have made you laugh a year and a half ago but turned out to be a reality. I mean did you ever thing that you and I would be living together, loving each other and raising Henry." She smiled, while a dreamy look appeared on her face; "I never would have expected that, not in a million years."

"No, I mean I dreamed about it but I never would have believed it could be a reality. In fact if someone had joked about you and me living together, raising Henry ... I probably would have cried." Emily answered honestly; "I would have cried ... cried so hard, like a baby ... I would have made a fool of myself."

"Oh baby, I love you."

"I love you too." Emily sealed her admission with a kiss, a very passionate kiss.

It was five minutes before ten in the morning when Will's truck came to a halt in the driveway, the back was filled with boxes. He got out of his car and approach the door, before he could reach it the door flew open and Henry jumped outside. "Henry LaMontagne! How many times have I told you not to open the door with either me or your mama present!" JJ hollered after him in a tone of voice which could stop any of her team members or other law enforcement officers but seemed to have little to no effect on Henry.

Henry stopped dead in his tracks for a second before he turned on his heels back towards the open door; "But mommy, it's daddy!" Will chuckled, he couldn't see Henry's face but he was sure that he was doing the perfect eye-role courtesy of his mommy. Henry turned back towards him and jumped up into his arms. "Daddy, I missed you!"

"I missed you too, buddy!" Will chuckled while he looked at his son; "Are you ready for a day out, just us boys. We're going to leave mommy and mama here and have a real boy's day."

Henry giggled, while he pumped his fist in the air before he held it out for Will to tap just like Uncle Morgan had shown him; "Cool!" Will mirrored the gesture and tapped Henry's small fist.

"What? We can't come with you?" JJ asked with a pout when she stepped outside followed by Emily.

"Nope! It's a boy's day and you're no boy." Henry exclaimed loudly; "Daddy said so? Right, daddy?"

"Ow Jen, I will stay with you today." Emily said while she wrapped her arms around JJ's waist. "Is there anything you might need today, Will?"

"Well, Jenn offered the garage to me for some boxes, I need to unload them and Henry needs to get his swim trunks."

"Sorry, I forgot to tell you." JJ admitted while she looked over her shoulder; "Could you help Will while I see if I can find Henry's swim trunks?"

"Sure I can help my new friend with a couple of boxes. What else are friends for?" Emily answered with a grin. "Henry, why don't you help mommy so you can find your swim trunks faster." Will lowered Henry to the ground and watched him while he ran back inside.

"He's a great kid, I'm gonna miss him."

Emily placed a hand on his shoulder; "He sure is, thanks again for trusting me with him. Let's get these boxes in the garage."

Will breathed in deeply, he shrugged; "You earned it." Will followed Emily back to his truck and opened the back of the flat-bed. He picked up the first two boxes and Emily followed his example. It didn't take them long to unload the truck and place the boxes in the garage. He had whistled when he noticed the mountainbike placed against the wall; "Is that yours?"

Emily smiled at him; "Yes. Nothing better than peddling through the woods with mud flying everywhere to find a great place with a view of the woods or water to get your thoughts back in order."

"I always thought you were a runner?"

"Why I am. Running is great, because you can do it everywhere and any time, I always take my gear with me when we're on a case. It helps me to concentrate, focus better if I go for a run. But when I have more time I love going to the woods, you should try it sometime it really works." Emily spoke with a smile on her face.

"I'm more of a walker, going on a hike to clear my mind is more my thing."

"Well my friend, maybe I should try to convince you once you get settled in and we come to visit you down in the South." Emily answers with a grin. She waits for Will to exit the garage before she closes the door and locks it.

"Maybe you should. I am sure there is enough rural area to make mud fly down South." Will answers with a grin. "Maybe we can talk some more about those plans tonight over a beer or two."

"Sure, sounds like a plan." Emily answered - it turns out that being friends with Will was easier than it had seemed at first mention. They got back inside and found JJ and Henry waiting for them - impatiently waiting. A bag was packed with everything Will might need for a day out.

"Daddy, I am ready can we go now?" Henry asked eagerly when Will and Emily entered the house.

"Sure, we can go now." Will answered with a smile and picked up the bag. "We'll be gone all day."

"Okay, no problem." JJ made her way over to Emily and wrapped her arm around her waist. "What about dinner tonight?"

"Well, I was thinking of taking Henry to McDonald's if that's okay with him, although we could do that this afternoon and have dinner here tonight. How does that sounds?" Will asked while he got down on one knee to be at Henry's level while he asked him. "Would you like it if we go to McDonald's this afternoon and end our men day here having dinner with mommy and mama?"

"Yes!"

"Okay, I take that as a yes from one very happy kid. That's what we do, how late do you want to have dinner?" Will asks the two women in front of him with one of his trademark lopsided grins.

JJ looked up at Emily; "I would say around five thirty?"

"Sounds good to me." They hugged Henry and watched him walk out the door with his daddy towards the truck when the man suddenly cursed. He turned around and looked down shamefully; "Ehm ... can I borrow the car seat, I packed it up already. Actually it's already on in New Orleans."

JJ steps back inside and retrieves her keys, she hands them to Will. "Take my car."

"Thanks." Will rubs his scruffy beard in shame while he takes the keys from JJ. "Sorry, I must have forgotten to set it aside..."

"Will, don't worry about it, moving's a bit ... a mess you always misplace things. You don't want to know how much stuff I left behind or misplaced during my many moves. You would think that it becomes routine after a while, but it never does." Emily admits, she hates moving and everything that comes with it.

"You got that right. I'm never ever going to move again!" Will explained while he played with the keys in his hand.

"Oh, believe me you will. I claimed that about thirty moves ago each and every time when my mom told me to pack up my stuff because we were moving somewhere else again. I claimed that I would never want to live that life when I grew up and to be honest I have still lived in at least ten different places since I moved out of my parents house."

"It's certainly not going to be like that with me, that is one thing I can to guarantee you."

"Well buddy, don't hate me when I tell you that I told you so." Emily said with a grin. "Why don't you hand me your keys and I'll back your truck up so that you can get Jayje's car out and I'll put your truck back on the driveway once you're gone." Emily offers while she holds out her hand for the keys.

"It's a stick shift." Will answers reluctantly.

"Like I said I have lived all over the world, driven all kinds of cars and certainly know how to drive a stick shift. Hand them over." The grin on Emily's face is one of mischief she gets in the truck and starts. She starts the car and tries to get it into reverse but she misses the slot and it jumps forward a tad bit before the engine is cut. Will stares at her in horror, a look which is mirrored on JJ's face. After all her car is parked directly in front of Will's truck. Emily bursts out laughing at them and slides the window open; "The look on your faces is priceless, I swear I am just kidding with you!" To prove her point she starts the car back up and easily drives it backwards onto the road as if she had driven nothing but this particular truck in her lifetime.

Will looks at JJ and laughs in relief; "You really got yourself a joker there."

"Don't I know it." JJ answers with a trademark eye-role.

Will picks Henry up and places him in the car seat. It doesn't take long before both Will as well as Henry wave at Emily and JJ while they pull out of the driveway and away into the street. Emily drives Will's truck back onto the driveway and enters the house with JJ. The blond suddenly turns around; "Are you worried?"

"Should I be?" Emily replies in confusion.

"I don't know." JJ bites her lip but tries to shrug her worries away.

"What's going on, love?" Emily asks while she looks at JJ.

"I can't help but worry about Will. We've seen so much in our jobs ... what if?"

"Honey, we are federal agents, Will's a cop. He won't try anything, he loves Henry too damn much he knows that once we catch up with him he'll never see Henry again. I am certain that he will be here at five thirty. He made his choice, he knows it's a tough one but he will be fine. I am not worried, he will be here in time for dinner and we will eat together, just the four of us. You'll see, on Monday you are going to tell me how silly it was to worry." Emily reaches out for JJ and pulls her close.

JJ breaths in deeply and melted into Emily's embrace. "Thank you, you always know exactly what I need to hear."

The day went by faster than expected, Emily did everything she could to distract JJ from her worries. And having the house to themselves certainly helped. However the closer they got to five thirty the more nervous JJ became and there really was nothing Emily could say or do to prevent that from happening. She just hoped that they could put their fears to rest once this weekend was over. She was pretty certain that everything was alright and that Will would bring Henry back but she couldn't help the little nagging voice in the back of her head. But it was her job to put up a brave face to make sure that JJ calmed down.

She couldn't help the relieved sigh that escaped her mouth once JJ called out that Will was back. She smiled at herself and put the food she had prepared in a couple of bowls which she placed on the center of the table. JJ came back inside with Henry and Will. "Hi buddy, how was you boy's day with daddy?" Emily asked while she watched them come inside.

"Cool! Daddy and I went swimming. And we ate hamburgers and fries and I gotsa toy!" Henry showed her a small toy, which he held up to show her in his hand. She looked down at it, honestly she had no idea what it was but she was sure that he was going to show her what it was sooner rather than later.

"Sounds like you had a lot of fun. Lets get your hands washed, dinner is ready." Emily helped Henry to wash his hands at the sink and placed him in his booster seat. Emily disappeared into the kitchen where she retrieved two cold beers from the fridge and a glass of wine. She placed them all on the table and sat down next to JJ.

Will holds up his beer bottle with a smile and Emily does the same with hers, JJ smiles back and follows his example; "To the future."

Sunday goes pretty much like Saturday, Henry and Will leave early in the morning and JJ's pretty much a mess. During the day she convinces herself that if Will is going to take Henry today would be the day to do it. Especially since yesterday evening really turned out to be an evening between good friends, JJ was relieved about the blooming friendship between Will and Emily. But this morning once Will and Henry went on their way her - most-likely irrational - fear had set back in again, even worse than yesterday. She was aware that it was probably irrational, but that didn't stop her mind from going haywire.

"Okay, listen up." Emily says while she walks into the room; "I have a plan, put on some clothes in which you can easily move around. Sportswear or something, wait for me here I'll be back in thirty minutes or so." Emily quickly got outside and drove towards her apartment building. There wasn't much left, mostly some old stuff which she didn't use any more. She really needed to either get them sold or hire storage before her apartment was sold.

She retrieved everything she needed and drove back to the house, JJ was impatiently waiting for her when she arrived home. Emily smiled when she noticed her sour mood. "Give me ten minutes to get changed and we'll be on our way."

"On our way where?" JJ asked while she followed Emily up the stairs.

"You'll like it. I am sure."

"Oh Em, don't keep anything a secret from me, not right now." JJ begged her partner.

"Jayje, it's only for ten more minutes that can hardly be called a surprise." She slipped out of her clothes and got dressed as quickly as she could. She fixed her hair into a low ponytail while JJ followed her around impatiently. Emily gathered her keys and left through the garage door, she grabbed a hold of her mountain-bike and helmet before she walked towards the garage door.

"You're going for a bike ride, what am I supposed to do? Run along?"

A laugh erupted from her mouth; "I have taken care of everything, we are going for a bike ride. Unless you like to run along as you say. Don't you know me by now?" Emily pushes the garage door open and waits for JJ to get outside.

The blond steps up to the brunette and kisses her; "I'm sorry, I am not myself right now."

"So I've noticed, which is why I went to my apartment and picked up my old mountain-bike and helmet. Safety first right?" Emily smiled; "And we are going for a bike ride to make sure that your mind is not worrying about our son and his daddy. Because they will be back here tonight. Now I hear you thinking old mountain-bike but I can assure you that there is nothing wrong with it. I just felt like spending some money on something new after a bad case which is why I upgraded to this way too expensive carbon fibre model in custom colors and detailing."

JJ chuckles while she locks the door to the garage and makes her way over to Emily's car. "You know, most women shop for shoes or clothes when they have a bad day at work. You take it to a whole other level!" The blond is still chuckling when they reach the car. "You know I might be a woman but since there are two bikes now you are never going to fit them into your car."

"You are right about that, I asked Will if I could borrow his truck because I would have used your car instead." Emily reaches out and strokes JJ's cheek; "Are you up for this?"

"Yeah, it sounds like fun and I am sure that it will take my mind off of things. When did you plan all of this?"

"Yesterday. Will asked me about my bike and I promised him that I will have to show him some time how much fun it is and that was when I realized that I had never shown you either. So I decided that it would be a fun thing to do." They loaded up the truck and pulled out of the driveway minutes later, Emily drove for thirty minutes before she parked the truck and got out, JJ followed shortly. She checked her reflection in the window and brushed a strand of hair back; "Honey, don't worry about appearances, no one is going to look at you any differently if you're stained with mud all over. That's half the fun."

"Okay, so how is this going to work?" JJ asks while she watches as Emily retrieves the two bikes from the back of the truck.

"You put on the helmet, I adjust the bike for you and we get on our way. Simple as that." Emily explained while she got to work on her self assigned task and adjusted the saddle height for JJ. "Okay, try it."

"I think it's okay." JJ answers while Emily swings a backpack onto her back and closes the safety strap in front of her chest.

"Good well if it needs to be adjusted you tell me and I help you out. Are you ready for this?" Emily asks while she checks the doors of the truck one last time before they leave. They start off at a simple part of the route so that JJ can learn to handle the bike and get a feel for riding through the woods. The blond however has no fear and a huge smile on her face and agrees quickly when Emily asks her if she would like to make things a little more exciting.

They ride their bikes for an hour and half before Emily stops them at the top of a hill with and outlook over a lake and the surrounding forest. Emily sits down and opens the backpack, she starts to unpack it. JJ sits down next to Emily and wraps her arm around her shoulder; "I love you. I love you so much."

"I love you too." Emily handed JJ a sandwich and a bottle of water. "Sorry, no fancy lunch."

"Well I got you lunching with me, that's all the fancy I need." JJ told Emily with a cheesy grin on her face while she leans against the brunette with content look on her face. They take their time before they begin the drive back to the truck. "We should do this again. I like it."

"Can you imagine doing this in a couple of years with Henry on his own little mountain-bike with his little matching helmet?" Emily asks the blond when they are on their way back home.

**AN: Yes! I made it! I wanted to update today so that I could wish you all a Happy New Year! Make sure that 2013 is going to be the best one yet!**

**I am already working on the next chapter and I hope to update soon! Thank you for sticking around and for reading, I just realized that I started working on this story back in the beginning of 2010.  
**

**Let me know what you think! Any suggestions or ideas are welcome, I thought that I would be finishing this story up after the team found out about their relationship but new ideas have been shaping in my head so I might not be done with this story just yet.  
**


	46. Chapter 46

**Chapter 46**

No matter how stressed JJ had been that morning after Will and Henry left or how easy it had been for Emily to take her mind of off that situation the feeling was back once she arrived home. She quickly went into the shower to rid herself of the traces of mud. Emily joined her and helped her relax for a while, but as soon as she got out of the shower she was back feeling stressed out. Again that lasted until the moment her own car pulled into the driveway, granted that was two minutes later than the initially agreed time. JJ had been ready to call Garcia to put a trace on Will's phone, Emily had begged to wait a couple more minutes before she called the analyst. She didn't want Will being a couple of minutes too late to cause a rift between JJ and Will. Both women sighed in relieve when they heard the car turn around the corner and into the driveway.

JJ was out the door to take Henry out of the car before she could stop herself or could be stopped by Emily. She glared at Will who - Emily was sure - knew exactly what JJ must have been thinking. "Jayje, sorry there was an accident on the highway, it took longer than I expected to get back here. I didn't call because I thought that I would make it. I'm so sorry, Chere, I should have called." Will said while he got out of the car and watched JJ, he nervously scratched the back of his head, the blond glared at him over the roof of the car but didn't say a word before she focussed her attention on Henry. She talked to him, asked him questions and only stopped when they passed Emily who was standing in the door opening. She kissed Henry on the top of his head and watched JJ while she took him inside.

Will was leaning with his back against the car, staring up in the sky, when she walked up to him. "She'll be fine, she's just on edge."

Will turns around, he braces his arms on the roof; "I know, I should have known better it's our job to see the worst in people which means I should have known better - even if I was just going to be a few seconds later." He sighed and rubbed his scruffy beard. "Dammit, I should have called." He slammed his fist into the roof of the car.

"Hey, watch it, buddy. That's Jayje's car, how about you bash your own car." Emily said with a grin while she places a hand on his shoulder; "Come inside when you're done. The door is open." She turns on her heels and walks back into the house to join JJ and Henry, who was telling his mommy all about his day. He started again at the beginning when Emily joined them on the couch. He struggled out of his mommy's embrace and sat down on his mama's lap.

It takes a while before Will walks into the door, he apologises profusely to JJ for making her worry even if it was just for a couple of minutes. Eventually JJ nods and Will sinks down on the arm chair across from the couch. Henry has crawled back into JJ's lap and Emily gets up with a smile, a minute later she returns from the kitchen with a juice box for Henry and a bottle of cold beer for Will. Which he takes from her with a grateful smile. Emily just smiles at him; "I'm going to finish making dinner we can eat in about fifteen minutes."

Once the food was eaten, JJ and Emily had retreated to the kitchen. Will and Henry sat down in the living room, they started playing with some of Henry's toys. The two women make quick work of the kitchen clean up, Emily fixes the last couple of thing while JJ starts to make a new batch of coffee. JJ placed the tray with the coffee mugs, cookies and a glass of juice for Henry on the table. Will looked up nervously while he pushed himself up from the floor and sat down in one of the chairs. Emily and JJ sat down on the couch across from him. "Henry, buddy come and sit with daddy for a while, there is something I want to tell you."

Henry sighed and rolled his eyes; "But daddy, I want to play!" The boy exclaimed.

"Henry, we have just played with your cars while mommy and mama cleaned up in the kitchen. Now it is time to do something else, I need to explain something to you." He ushered Henry to come towards him, Henry looked up at his father, he reluctantly picked up one of his cars and moved towards his father. He snuggled into his lap and looked up at him expectantly while he pushed his thumb into his mouth.

"Henry? You know that I love you, right?" Will asked Henry who nodded in reply. Will breathed in deeply; "Do you remember where we went during New Year when we took that really long trip?" Again the only answer he received was from Henry who looked up at him with his big blue eyes; "Well, tomorrow daddy's going to move back there, it's my home."

"Yes..." Henry mumbled around his thumb - Will suddenly wondered if waiting till after dinner really had been the best idea. After all he was young and they had a busy day, what if he was too tired. Would he understand what he was talking about. "No?" Henry frowned while he took a quick look at his mommy and mama.

"Henry, please don't talk with your thumb in your mouth." JJ scolded her son, she wanted him to learn to speak clearly and lately he had started the habit of talking with his thumb in his mouth when he was getting tired.

Henry pouted while he pulled his thumb out of his mouth; "Yes." He repeated his reply; "We saw your friends."

"Yes we did. And do you remember that it was the city where daddy was born, I lived there all my life. Until I met your mommy, that is when I moved here."

Henry frowned for a minute while he seemed to process the information; "Like mommy used to live really far away with Grandma and Grandpa when she was little?" Henry asked, to confirm that he was getting it right.

"Yes, just like that." Will smiled; "I'm going back, I'm going to live there ... it's far away and it means that I won't be able to see you as much but that does not mean that I don't love you. I love you very very much and I will come here as often as I can."

A pout started to form on Henry's face; "No daddy! Stay!" He suddenly exclaimed, it was as if all of the pieces of the puzzle fell into place all at the same time. He wrapped his arms around his father's neck in hopes that it was going to make sure that he stayed where he was. Will wrapped his arms around Henry and tried to give him the comfort he needed. But Henry seemed to be inconsolable.

"Buddy, I know you don't like it but I have to do this, I have to go back home for a while." He tried to talk to Henry but it was useless. Henry didn't seem to grasp anything he was saying and eventually he kept crying and screaming. Neither one of them had ever seen Henry this distraught. His cheeks were bright red and wet and he was having trouble catching his breath. He started to cry that he wanted his mommy. JJ hadn't wanted to step in before Will asked her but she could no longer watch the scene in front of her. She pulled her hand from Emily's and got up. She picked Henry up from Will's lap and tried to calm him down, Will slumped back in the seat holding his head in his hands. Emily remained seated on the couch across from him, she felt extremely uncomfortable and not at all sure about anything she could do to make this situation easier for any of them. Henry was clinging to JJ his screams had subsided to sobs but the emotions were still trembling on his little body. Tears were running down his face, staining JJ's light grey hoodie, the blond was barely able to keep her own tears from falling. She moved to the back of her room where she started pacing back and forth, the sobs subsided but Henry was still clinging to her. One of his hands had a painful grip on her shoulder - it was as if he was afraid that she would leave him as well.

"Am I doing the wrong thing?" Will asked to no one in particular but Emily was the only one who could hear him. JJ was too consumed with Henry to hear it.

She sighed and looked up at Will; "Please, Will don't ask me to answer that question, I can't answer it for you." It brought back memories of Emily's youth, her parents hadn't been around and that had always been what she had wanted. But her parents were not Will ... he loved Henry with all of his heart and he wasn't afraid of showing it, which was something her parents had never done. Her situation was not something she should relate with Henry and Will and even if she could answer his question it was not her place to answer it.

"You're right, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked." He pushed himself up from the chair and made his way to JJ who was on the other side of the room with Henry, who'd finally stopped crying. He refused to let go of JJ for the time being. "Henry, can you look at daddy for a minute?"

Henry turned his head away from Will and hid it in JJ's neck, Will sighed and placed his hand on Henry's back. "Buddy. Henry please daddy loves you so very much." Tears were brimming in his eyes. JJ felt sorry for him, more than she could ever tell him. They crossed eyes, she smiled weakly at him. Her hand reached up for his face, she placed her hand along his jaw line while she mouthed 'it'll be fine' to him. Emily watched them from the opposite side of the room a pang of jealousy shot through her chest but she refused to acknowledge it. This was not the time to get jealous, they were dealing with a tremendously hard situation regarding their son. Henry needed his parents, both of them. The brunette got up and made her way to the hallway, she had decided to retreat to the second floor. JJ would know where to find her if she needed her, but she was pretty sure that she wasn't needed right now.

"Henry baby, I know you're sad but can you please look at daddy. He really wants to talk to you?" She gently urged the young boy to look at his daddy. Finally Henry took a glimpse towards his father, who smiled at him.

"Henry, I really love you. And if I had a choice I wouldn't leave you but Henry this is your home, right here with mommy and mama. But you know what, you can come to see me - remember how much fun you had last time? And I will come and see you as often as I can. I promise, it will be just like this weekend. We really had fun didn't we?" Will asked his son, Henry nodded his head before he put his thumb back in his mouth. "Can I hug you, buddy? I am really going to miss that, being able to hug you." Henry again answered with a nod of his head. Will took Henry from JJ and wrapped his arms securely around Henry. It didn't take long before Henry's eyes started to droop and his body started to feel like a dead weight in his arms. Will knew that these were the signs of his son falling asleep. He kept pacing with him along the length of the room, he wanted this moment to last for as long as it possibly could. Finally Will turned towards the living room area where they had previously been, when he suddenly realised that Emily was no longer there. "Where did Emily go?"

Once Will had taken Henry back into his arms JJ had taken a seat at the kitchen counter. She looked up at Will's softly spoken words, she seemed to notice for the first time as well that the brunette was no longer with them in the living room. "I'm not sure, probably upstairs I guess she figured that we could use some time alone with Henry. I take it that you will be okay now with Henry. I am going to see if I can find Emily." JJ placed her hand gently on Henry's back, she kissed the top of his head before she looked up at Will. She kissed his cheek. "I know this is hard but Will you need to take care of yourself now. You owe that to yourself, to Henry ... Henry will be fine. He knows that you love him, I make sure that he knows that you love him."

"I know." Will smiled but his eyes remained sad. He truly had a remarkable relationship with the mother of his son, something which he never could have expected when they broke up. Especially when it didn't take long for Emily to become a part of his sons life. "I'm going to stay here for a while ... with Henry. I need ... I need time."

JJ nodded in confirmation; "Sure. Take your time, but please get some sleep before you leave tomorrow ... it's a long drive."

JJ watches him for a minute, remembering a time where he was the person she loved, though their love had been passionate she had never expected that they would last. If she were honest she had to admit that she never saw a future with Will. The fact that she became pregnant had only prolonged the time that they had spend together. It had honestly changed everything - she was sure that if she hadn't gotten pregnant it would have just been the fling it was before, nothing serious. It wasn't what she had expected to happen when they started seeing each other, they lived a thousand miles apart. Neither one of them feeling the need to compromise, both living their own lives till the weekend arrived. Yes, her feelings for Will had been deeper than just friendship but they were nothing compared to the love she felt for Emily. A love which still seemed to be growing. At the same time Will and she shared something which had strengthened their bound, she cared for him - always would. She didn't know how long she was standing there watching Will with Henry before she became aware that she was staring at him. Will didn't seem to notice anything, he was just staring at Henry who was asleep against his chest. His head was bend down, his nose touching the top of Henry's head while he breathed deeply in an out. JJ knew exactly what he was doing, it was a comfort thing something she needed when they had a tough case - something which she had noticed Emily did too. Just holding Henry, taking in everything about him, every little detail. Letting the world pass by in a completely relaxed state that was what Will needed now most of all. She smiled and made her way upstairs without another word.

It doesn't surprise her one bit when she finds Emily in bed reading a book - one of the foreign language books. The brunette looks up and smiles at JJ when she enters the bed room. She places the book on the bedside table and ushers for JJ to join her on the bed. The blond starts to rid herself of her hoodie and drops it to the floor. Before she reaches the bed she is also shedding the sweat pants she had worn after they got out of the shower earlier that afternoon. She pushes the duvet away and eases her tired body down on the bed. The blond sighs, tears sting in her eyes. It isn't really all that late but she feels exhausted.

"Are you okay?" Emily asks, she opened her arms and allows the blond to settle against her shoulder. She wipes away the first tears that fall from JJ's eyes.

"I've never seen him that distraught, it was ... it was so hard to hold him. He was crying so loudly, he was pulling me close to him and pushing me away at the same time." She looks up at Emily; "His body temperature rose a few degrees, and his breathing ... I was afraid that he wouldn't be able to catch his breath."

"Oh honey, he's going to be fine." Emily's hand slowly moved through JJ's long blond tresses; "He might be sad - he has every right to be sad, it's even understandable if he gets a little angry - but honey we can do this. We can be the stable home Henry needs to grow up happily and Will he's going to be the best father he can be" Emily smiles confidently at her lover, she was confident that they can make sure that Henry has a happy youth even if his dad is a little farther away from him than ideal. "We can take Henry down there to visit Will and we can use skype so he can talk to his daddy whenever he wants. He has us, and I am sure that Will is going to be a constant factor in his life as well."

"I know..." JJ smiled; "But it's so damn hard. I should be happy because Will and I are on good terms with each other, we are both taking our responsibility towards Henry. Will decides to move away and he leaves Henry with us without any lawyers or anything involved and I am the one who ends up crying my eyes out in your arms at nine in the evening!" A chuckle erupted through the tears.

"It is kind of weird." Emily confirmed, she smiled and kissed the top of JJ's head. The blond wiped away the tears. They sat in silence for a while, both lost in their own thoughts - doubt about Henry and Will. Emily vowed right then and there that she would never allow Will to pull away from Henry. She didn't expect him to do something like that, but she promised in silence that Henry would not have the disturbed kind of relationship with his father that she had with her own parents.

It was JJ who suddenly broke the silence; "Why did you leave?"

"Jayje, Henry needed you, Will needed you." The brunette shrugged.

"You are part of us, we needed you too. I needed you." JJ answers softly, as if she's displaying a weakness by confessing that she needed Emily.

"Jayje, this was something you two needed to do. Henry needed the two of you." Emily reasoned with the blond who was still in her arms. "

"I don't agree."

"Honey, I love you but I think that we have to agree to disagree. More people hovering around Henry wouldn't have helped the situation. It probably would have made him even more upset." Emily leaned her head back against the headboard of the bed and smiled down at JJ who was resting against her shoulder.

JJ pushes herself up with her hand to make sure that she can see Emily's face; "Honey, you are part of this family."

"Jayje, honey, there is not a doubt in my mind about that. Not one. But this was something between Will, Henry and you, and that is fine by me as long as I know that."

"Do you promise me that you don't doubt your place in this family?" JJ squinted at Emily, she wanted to make sure that the brunette really meant what she said.

Emily chu"Jen, believe me. I have never felt more at home than I do since you and I got together. You gave me a family and more important a home." Emily smiled, she leaned down and kissed JJ; "I don't doubt my place in this family."

"Good." JJ says while she starts to kiss Emily passionately. She wants to make sure that there wouldn't be a single doubt in Emily's mind. The blond moves on top of the brunette, she leans down and kisses her with even more passion.

"Jayje, I love you, I love you so much but we really shouldn't."

"We shouldn't? Why not?" JJ asked confused while she stared down at the brunette beneath her.

"Will. He has to come up here at some point to get Henry in his bed and to get some sleep."

"Well honey, I hate to break it to you but I am pretty sure that he can figure out what happens in our bed room. Besides we are in our own house ..."

"Knowing it and actually hearing or seeing it are two different things, we don't need to rub it in his face. Look, it doesn't feel right to me, how about I promise you that I will make it up to you tomorrow evening?"

"You better believe that is one promise I am going to make sure you keep." JJ answers with a devilish glint in her eyes. She leaned down and in a teasing manner kisses Emily's breast before she takes the nipple between her teeth through the fabric of her shirt. She left a wet stain while she pushed herself back up and eased her body back next to Emily's body. The nipple had turned hard, Emily had hissed when JJ bit her. She could feel the throbbing throughout her body and she knew that it was going to take her at least a couple of minutes to calm her body back down. JJ chuckles next to her; "Serves you right." The blond can't contain the laughter while pushes herself back up from the bed and makes her way into the en-suite bathroom.

"God! Woman! You are so mean!" Emily exclaimed in frustration while the bathroom door closed. She can still hear the chuckles through the door and rolled her eyes.

The blond opens the door and sticks her head into the room through the opening, a huge smile is plastered on her face; "Hey, don't blame me you are the one who insisted that we couldn't." JJ calls back into the bed room before she steps back inside and starts the shower. Normally one shower a day seems like more than enough, but this is a shower which is considerably cooler than she would usually like. But it does the trick, it doesn't take long before she steps back into the bed room and gets back into the bed.

"You took another shower?" Emily asks - while she once again places her book onto the bedside table - she had assumed that JJ would have gone into the bedroom to get ready for bed even though it was still pretty early. She had been surprised when JJ had turned on the shower.

"Yeah, a nice cold one." JJ answered with a smug smile.

Will had taken a shower after breakfast the next morning, he made quick work of getting ready and had already placed everything in his car. He stepped back inside and smiled at Emily who came down the stairs dressed for work. JJ and Emily had taken the morning off to say goodbye to Will and give Henry a chance to see his daddy until he had to leave. While Emily finished buttoning her blouse while she came down the stairs it was JJ who was undoing her buttons while she quickly ran back up the stairs. "Hey Jayje, I'm ready ... what's going on?" He asked Emily with a confused look on his face while the blond disappeared up the stairs without stopping.

"What's going on? What's going on! Your son spilled his chocolate milk down my blouse."

Both Emily as well as Will start to protest; "Funny how he's always my son when he does something wrong!" Will and Emily look at each other stunned for a second before they burst out laughing. Will scratches the back of his head; "So that's also the deal with you?"

"Yup, though I am still trying to figure out when I showed Henry how to spill his drink down JJ's blouse. I can't remember doing anything like that ... ever." Emily answered with a frown as if she was thinking really deeply trying to remember.

Will mirrors the frown; "Yeah, me neither. Funny how that works though."

"It definitively is a peculiar thing."

"It is. Maybe we should take this under further investigation, between a Detective and a FBI agent we should be able to figure something out."

"Oh, stop it. Both of you!" JJ answered while she rushed downstairs again still buttoning the light blue blouse. She held her arm out to Emily who buttoned the cuff for her; "Where's Henry? Henry, baby. Daddy has to go now."

"NO!" Henry screamed from inside the living room with an anger in his voice that he'd never displayed before. It scared JJ to hear that much anger coming from her son. Apparently the fact that Will had already taken his belongings out to his car and was getting ready to leave their home for one last run to his apartment was what had angered Henry. His father really was leaving. Will had to pick up the last couple of boxes, place them in his car and start his drive down south - a long drive down south.

"Henry LaMontagne!" JJ said loudly in a tone of voice which she normally saved for suspects. But Henry's behaviour was really was getting on her nerves. He had been crying and refusing to eat or talk. Most of his breakfast At this point she would much rather be at work trying to work her way through stacks of case files but they had asked if they could come in later so that they could make sure that Henry would be able to say goodbye to his father. A decision she had come to regret very quickly when she walked into Henry's room earlier that morning.

Will held up his hand to JJ, asking her silence if she would give him a chance to approach Henry. JJ nods and stays in the hallway with Emily, the brunette wraps her arms around the younger woman and pulls her close. She places a kiss on the blonds hair and inhales the scent that is so typically JJ.

Will has been asking Henry to come and say goodbye to him for a couple of minutes now, but the small child is refusing to listen to his father and his mother alike. Will has knelled down in front of the couch, his shoulders are slumped, his head bend leaning in the palm of his hand - no doubt he's contemplating if he should leave without saying goodbye to his son. But he knows that it would only make matters worse. JJ had tried right after the chocolate milk incident to get Henry out of his hiding spot to say goodbye to his daddy as well but with just as much luck as Will is having right now. She had tried to console Will but what could she say to him that would make him feel better about this whole situation. They both knew that it was the right choice right now for Will to make, but how do you explain that to a small child. Henry was too young to understand why making this move was so important to Will and that Will right now had to be a little selfish to ensure that he would be the best father to Henry he could be in the future. Will had left everything he'd loved and known for JJ and Henry, but his relationship with JJ had failed thus taking away the most important reason for his initial move to DC. He no longer had Henry in his life full time. He missed his life in New Orleans, he missed his job there. In New Orleans he'd felt like he belonged, like he had a purpose. He'd found a job as a detective in DC but he still felt like the odd one out, he hardly knew the wide spread city it made it a lot harder to work his job. But all of those reasons are not something that they could explain to Henry. Will gets up, it's clear that Henry is refusing to listen to anything he has to say right now.

He made his way into the hallway and sank down at the bottom of the stairs, his hands in his hair. It was obvious that both women knew that he was barely keeping it together.

"Can I try?" Emily offers to JJ and Will - JJ nods her agreement but Will doesn't react, it was obvious that neither one of them was getting anywhere with Henry this morning. The brunette smile at them and walked into the living room to try and talk to Henry. Maybe in this case she was the right person to talk to him about this after all she knew what it was like to be left by behind by someone who should be part of your life every step of the way. She had first hand knowledge and she knew that the pain that Henry was feeling right now was the same pain she had felt most of the time she grew up. She couldn't count how many times she had been acting out because her parents choose to go to some kind of 'important' event instead of something which had been important to her. Emily breathed in deeply, focussing her attention to her task like she would do when she talked to a victim or their family.

The little boy was sitting with his back against the couch in the corner wedged in between the wall and the piece of furniture. Emily wouldn't have know where he was if she hadn't heard the sob that escaped from his small body. "Henry, buddy." She got down onto her knees, she reached out and touched his arm. Henry hid his face in his crossed arms which rested on his knees. He barely fit into the opening, Emily tried to contemplate her next move. She was glad that he hadn't shied away from her touch, but at the same time she wondered if he even had room to shy away from her if he wanted to do so.

She decided that she would just talk to him and see what his reaction would be and she would go from there. She sat down on the floor, her back against the wall and her legs stretched out in front of her, she could see Henry better that way. "Henry, will you come out of there? I really want to talk to you, I want to explain something to you." She tried to reason with the small child who was still hiding away, he refused to look at her.

"No." Henry said, his voice filled with sobs.

"Why not?" Emily asked him softly.

"Don't wanna."

"Buddy, if I tell you something will you promise me that you will listen to me?" Henry shrugged, Emily urged him to answer her. "Henry, will you listen to me?"

"Ok...ay." Henry answers between two sobs.

"When I was a little girl my mommy and daddy, grandma Elizabeth and grandpa Edward had really important jobs and they were away often. Just like your mommy and I have to go away for our job, to catch the bad guys. I hated it when they went away, but my mother and father never told me that they loved me and that they would miss me and that made me really sad. They never called me to tell me goodnight or to tell me a story like we do. Your daddy wants to tell you that he loves you and I bet he also wants to tell you that you will see him again really soon." Emily explained to Henry.

She was still amazed by the change that her parents went through since they had first met JJ and Henry. She never expected them to care about the little boy who wasn't even related to , but they had proven her wrong. Thank God they had. She hated telling Henry that her parents had hurt her by not telling her that they loved her but she wanted him to know that his daddy really loved him with all his heart and that Will's choice to move away had nothing to do with his son. "Daddy has to go and I think that he will be really sad if you don't say goodbye to him." Emily tried to reason with Henry.

"I don't wanna say goodbye."

"Buddy, I know you're sad but I promise you that you will see daddy again soon. Just tell daddy bye and tell him that you will see him again soon. He's just moving further away. Like grandma and grandpa and sometimes we will take you to visit daddy at his new place and sometimes daddy will come and visit you here." Emily smiles at him; "Why don't you come here and sit with me for a while, we can come up with a plan for you to see daddy as much as you want to." It took a while but finally Henry crawled out of the confined space and nestled himself in Emily's lap. The brunette wrapped her arms around him and kissed him on the top of his head.

"When my mommy and daddy went away when I was little I couldn't talk to them but we can make sure that you can talk to your daddy." Emily started to explain, she wasn't really sure what she was going to tell Henry but she knew that she needed to make sure that he would understand that he could always talk to his mommy, his daddy and to her. "It made me really sad, so I know that you feel sad, I understand it." Emily sat on the floor completely focussed on the child in her arms, his head was leaning against her chest, her hand absent-mindedly brushed through his hair.

"How about I promise you that you can call daddy and I make daddy promise that he will call you too. Just like mommy and I do when we're on a case."

"Every day?"

"Maybe, you know how sometimes mommy or I can't call you when we are too busy chasing the bad guys?" Henry nods slowly; "Well daddy told me that he will be a cop in New Orleans, so sometimes he might be chasing bad guys as well which makes it harder for him to call you. But I am sure that if you call him and he can't pick up that he will call you back as soon as he can. You should ask him? You know what? We can ask your daddy if he makes sure that he has a good internet connection so that we can video chat with him, just like you do with Grandma and Grandpa." Emily smiled; "You like that, don't you?"

Henry pushed himself away from Emily so that he was able to see her face; "Promise?"

"Of course I promise. If I ask daddy about the internet connection, do you promise me that you will give him a big, big hug and tell him that we will visit him as soon as he has unpacked those boxes?" A small smile breaks on Henry's face and for the first time since they broke the news to him yesterday a glimmer of hope is visible in his eyes. Emily smiles back at him and pulls him closer into her embrace. Henry wraps his arms around her neck. It takes a little while before he let's go and gets up from her lap. Emily follows his example, she gets up as well and takes Henry's hand which he held up to her. She looks down at him and smiles, Henry smiles back at her. "Lets go and talk to daddy."

Together they walk to the hallway were JJ and Will had been waiting - from the living room to the hallway is only a few steps and it's obvious that they had both heard every word spoken between Emily and Henry but they were trying to act as if they hadn't heard a single word. "Will? I have a question. Do you promise to set up the best internet connection you can get as soon as possible. Because we want to video-chat with you?"

The sad, haunted look that had been on Will's face - since he appeared at breakfast this morning - was finally disappearing; "I promise to call or video-chat every day if I'm not chasing bad guys." Will pledged while he sunk down on one knee in front of Henry. "I will fix my internet connection as soon as I can, because I really want to talk to my boy." He watched Henry who tried to hide himself a little behind Emily. "Would you like it if mommy and mama help you by setting up a video-chat like you do with grandma and grandpa, so we can see each other while we talk?" Will always knelled down while he talked to Henry, he wanted to have a conversation with him on the same level not seem overpowering by the sheer hight difference. He held his hand out for Henry to take, the little boy frowned at it before he looked up at Emily. The brunette smiled at him and nodded - encouraging the small child to step forward into his father's arms. It worried her that Henry seemed to need her guidance to talk to his daddy, she really hoped that neither Will nor JJ would take it that the wrong way.

Henry leaps forward completely ignoring his father's hand and falls into his arms. A tear streaks down Will's cheek as the emotions over run him. His embrace around Henry tightens which makes the small boy struggle in return. "Daddy, you're to tight." Will chuckled and released his grip on his son, though he didn't let him go completely. "Daddy, mama said that we will visit you soon."

"Really, did mama say that?" Will asks Henry, who grins at him.

He turned around and looked at his mother's who were standing side by side, Emily's arms were wrapped around JJ's middle and her chin was leaning down on JJ's shoulder. "Uhuh, right, mama?" Henry asked for confirmation.

"Yes, I sure did, I told Henry that we would come and visit you as soon as you got your stuff unpacked and settled in. So all you have to do is say the word and we'll make the trip down south." JJ smiled at Will and Henry, to confirm that it was fine by her as well.

JJ and Emily talked about visiting Will as soon as he was able to receive them or rather Henry. They would take a short vacation; "Just let us know when you can receive us and well arrange something at work." JJ answered with a smile while she looked down at Will and Henry.

Her ex nodded while he picked Henry up. "You tell you mother's that I will let them know as soon as I have everything sorted out. Buddy, I know that you don't like this whole thing with me moving away but I love you. I love you so much."

"Love you too, daddy." Henry answers with a sad face.

"Buddy, I will call you tonight and you can tell me all about your day. And I tell you about the drive down south and when you and your mommies drive down south in a little while you can see everything for yourself." Henry nodded, his face still sad but a little smile shimmered through as well. "I have to go now. I love you, buddy always remember that." Henry nodded, he pouted but nodded his head sadly; "Give me on last big hug and a sloppy kiss for the road?"

Henry obliged before Will put him back on his feet, he hugged Emily and thanked her before he wrapped his arms around JJ. "Thank you, for everything. I'll talk to you tonight."

"Yes, call me." JJ replies with a smile, the family stepped outside of the house and Will got into his truck after he hugged Henry one last time. Henry immediately ran back to Emily who picked him up and wrapped him in her arms. The brunette smiled at the boy who she thought of as her son and felt sorry to see his daddy go. They wave at Will while he backs out of the driveway, Emily follows the car out into the street and waves with Henry in her arms at him until they are no longer able to see his car. Henry slumps down on her shoulder, she can feel a couple of tears wet her blouse but all in all he stays pretty calm. She makes her way back to JJ who watches her lover and her son with sad eyes.

Emily reaches her hand out and caresses her thumb across JJ's cheek, it's a comforting gesture but it doesn't stop the tears in JJ's eyes from falling. JJ's hand soothingly rubs up and down Henry's back while she looks up at the brunette; "I'm calling Hotch. We can't leave Henry at day care, not today."

"I agree. You should stay home with him today. Play with him, do something fun." The brunette states with a smile.

"No, we are going to stay home with our son today. He needs us, both of us. Not just me." The blond states while retrieves her phone from her bag in a tone of voice which leaves no room for discussion. She waits for the line to connect while she watches Emily, the brunette is about to say something but JJ literally shushes her. "Hotch. Yes, everything is fine. No, he just left." She listens for a while before she starts talking again; "Look, I know that it's really last minute and all that but ... yeah, he really is having a hard time. I wanted to ask you if it was okay for us to stay home with him. Just for today, maybe you could ask Garcia to send us some files. What? Really? Thanks so much, Hotch. We'll see you tomorrow, yes. I promise bright and early, make that extra early with a treat."

JJ disconnected the call and looked up at Emily; "Well, looks like we have the day off, and we have the best friends in the world!" JJ exclaimed with a bright smile.

"And why exactly is that?"

"Because they all took an extra case from our desks to make sure that we can go home on time instead of having to work overtime. I offered to work from home but Hotch told me that it wouldn't be necessary. I promised that we would take a treat to work for everyone tomorrow morning."

"Starbucks?" Emily asked with a smile knowing exactly what JJ was thinking. The brunette was well aware of the coffee addiction of the blond. "I got an idea! Henry would you like to help me make cookies for our team? Would you like that, I bet mommy would like to help too."

Henry nods his head happily; "Yes cookies! Can I make a pink one for Aunty Pen?"

"Yes, you can but we should go to the store first." JJ answered with a smile.

"I'm going to get out of these clothes, what about you?" Emily asked smiling at JJ who would be getting dressed for the third time in just as many hours.

JJ chuckled in reply; "Yes, I'm going to get redressed again!"

"I tell you one thing, the laundry is your task if you continue to get redressed every hour." Emily states with a smirk while she quickly makes her way upstairs. Never the less closely followed by JJ and Henry. Henry disappears into his room, while both Emily and JJ get dressed into more comfortable clothes for a day at home with Henry. The brunette is done first, she decides to see get Henry and start to figure out a grocery list. She walks into his room but stops immediately when she sees Henry, he's sitting on the floor - toys all around him, forgotten - he's staring straight at a picture on his wall. An image of Henry and Will, he's sitting on his daddies lap wrapped up in his arms laughing loudly at something tha happened off camera. The image was taken last summer at a barbecue.

She contemplates if she should give him some time or if she should act as if she hasn't noticed what was going on. She's still not sure what to do when she senses JJ behind her. "What's going on?" The blond asks softly while she places her hand on Emily's shoulder. "Can you make the list for the grocery store, I'll take care of this." JJ says while she steps into her sons bedroom.

It was about fifteen minutes later when JJ and Henry joined Emily in the kitchen, she explained that they would make cupcakes with different colours of frosting. Of course the different colours would include pink for Garcia's cupcake. Henry liked the idea and he smiled from ear to ear. They made a quick stop at the grocery store and picked up everything they needed to make the cupcakes. They made it back quickly and started to work on the dough. Henry was standing on a chair between Emily and JJ at the kitchen counter.

They had a lot of fun together, they sang songs and joked with each other, before they were finished they all had different coloured smudges of icing on their faces. But they ended up with a box of cupcakes, the top of the cupcakes were decorated in a hue of colours.

Emily, JJ and Henry make their way from the parking lot of the FBI Headquarters to the entrance. JJ asks Emily to wait for her with Henry while she picks up one of the visitor badges for Henry before they make their way over to the elevators. It's early in the morning but the elevator is already filling up with agents. Henry clasps JJ's hand tightly while he watches the people around them. Emily's carrying the box with the cupcakes and one of those cardboard coffee trays with a couple of Styrofoam mugs in them while JJ's holding the others and keeps a close eye on Henry.

They get out of the elevator and make their way over to the BAU bullpen, JJ smiles down at Henry who's walking besides her; "Come quick, we'll hide so we can surprise everyone." Henry nods his head and quickly follows JJ into the round table room. Emily places the box on the top of the table along with the coffees. "Okay you two need to be really quite and I will make sure that everyone will come in here. I'll tell them we have a case. And when they all come in here you two scream surprise." JJ explains to her son before she leaves Henry and Emily in the round table room and quickly closes the door behind her.

She picks a file from her desk and makes her way down to Hotch's office; "Hotch, if potentially speaking Emily and Henry are in the round table room and we potentially have a surprise for the team, but I'm going to tell the other's that we have a case, all hands on deck. And we potentially need Kevin too would that be okay?"

"Yes, that would potentially be okay if it doesn't take too long. I can't have Strauss breathing down my neck about my team slacking off." Hotch answered with a grin before he focussed his attention back on the folder in front of him. He knew that the rest of the team was just arriving and that he would have a couple of minutes before JJ's potential briefing would start. "Thanks Hotch."

JJ made her way to Garcia's lair, the blond tech was already sitting behind her computer typing away furiously. JJ breathed in deeply trying to calm herself down so that she would be able to convince Garcia that they have a high profile all hands on deck case which would require them the help from two tech's instead of one; "Pen, I got a bad one." She said while she held the folder up; "Can you call Kevin, we need all hands on deck."

"But ... but he's working on other cases. He told me so this morning." Garcia told her with a giddy smile on her face.

"Hotch already cleared it with his boss. Can you call him?"

"Already dialling, Sunshine." Garcia waits for the call to connect; "Pookie, Jayje's here she has a bad one, the Starfleet needs you. My Bossman already cleared it with your Bossman ... you better be on your way, Jayje looks really impatient. If you're not here quickly she might come over to your lair to get you, I wouldn't wait for that if I were you." She disconnected the call and turned back to JJ. "My hero is on his way he should be arriving in three ... two ... one ..." The grin on Garcia's face became even bigger when Kevin rounded the corner at exactly that moment a little out of breath.

"You need me?"

"Yes, yes we do Kevin." JJ was using her media-liaison 'I'm telling you a whole lot of nothing'-face. If it worked on the media it surely would work on her tech-friends.

"But ... but you got Penny? She's the best!" Kevin answered nervously, it didn't really matter that they saw each other outside of work, if they were in the office he always seemed nervous.

"Yes, we do. We're dealing with a very computer savvy unsub. We need you. The two of you work well together, let's go." JJ returns to the bullpen. In the meantime Rossi, Reid and Morgan have arrived as well. "We got a case, a bad one. I'm going to call Hotch for the meeting."

"Jayje, where's Emily?" Reid asked while he gathered his belongings.

"She'll be here in a minute, we already talked about this case on our way here and she wanted to ask Jordan Todd a question relating to this case." JJ quickly came up with the lie before she turned on her heals to get Hotch.

"So ... Terrorism?" Morgan asks, but JJ doesn't give him an answer. After all it will all be clear in a manner of seconds.

Their boss had just stepped out of his office when he heard JJ's last reply as soon as he reached her he spoke softly so only she could hear; "You are getting to good at lying, if I hadn't known any better I would have believed you Jareau."

"Why thank you boss, it's all that lying and telling a whole lot of nothing to the press that trained me." She grinned; "And sometimes I use it for the better good." She winked and waited for the reaction of the team the second they stepped into the round-table room.

"SURPRISE!" Henry screamed at the top of his lungs when the door opened and the team wanted to step inside.

Garcia scared easily and flew into Derek's arms. Kevin scratched his head when the feeling of the fear started to subside. The blond tech looked up at Derek in an apologetic manner while she patted his broad shoulder and quickly moved to Kevin's side; "Let me guess, seeing the yelling whippersnapper - who scared the bejeebers out of me - I think it's save to say that it's save to say that we have no case." She asked while she focussed her attention on a laughing Emily and JJ.

"Yeah, you certainly got that right. Henry made a surprise for all of you." Emily answered with a huge grin. "Henry why don't you show them? Please, sit down have a coffee." The brunette answered while she started to push the coffees in the general direction of their team members who gathered around the table.

JJ helped Henry, she allowed him to stand on one of the chairs and pulled the box with the cupcakes close to her son so that he would be able to hand them out. Especially since everyone was going to get a cupcake with a special decoration.

One was completely drenched in pink icing with green dots because Aunty Penny loves pink and her newest glasses are bright green according to Henry. There is a blue one for Uncle Derek, Uncle Hotch and Uncle Rossi, because it's manly and one that is half blue and half green with dots because Uncle Spence always wears two different coloured socks. And there was one cupcake which had a stripe and swirl pattern on it just like Kevin's tie - or rather a pattern like most of his clothes.

Henry handed everyone their designated cupcake, they all gave Henry a hug and thanked him. When Henry was done with his task he made his way back to Emily and climbed onto her lap. He pulled the box close, he picked up one of the cupcakes decorated with a heart and handed it to his mommy. JJ smiled and kissed Henry on the top of his head. Henry had a cheeky smile on his face, while he handed a similarly decorated cupcake to Emily. The brunette thanked Henry as well with a kiss on his cheek. Finally Henry could pick up the last cupcake, a blue one with dots in all kinds of colours he sat the cupcake down on the table in front of him and munched on it happily while his gaze travelled around the table.

"Did you make these, munchkin?" Garcia asked while she held up her pink and green cupcake.

"Yes, with mommy and mama." Henry smiled; "We made them because we was sad. Daddy left." Henry focussed on his cupcake a small pout was on his face; "But mama said that we will visit daddy soon."

"Really?" Garcia asked with a raised brow.

"Yes. Really." Emily replied with a smile, her hand brushed through Henry's long blond hair.

"Oh. That's new." Garcia replied looking straight at Emily, who shrugged in reply. Emily knew that this was not the last thing they had said about this particular topic, she knew that Garcia would revisit it sooner rather than later. The blond tech focussed her attention back towards her Godson; "I'm sure daddy will love it when you visit him."

They drank their coffee and at their cupcake but soon Hotch had to break up the meeting and make sure that everyone got back to work at their desk. "I'm sorry, but it's time for me to be the boss. I have to break this up. Henry, thank you for the cupcake it was delicious." Henry smiled from ear to ear while he watched Hotch leave the room. Reid and Garcia both hugged their Godson before they left while Morgan opted for a high five. Kevin thanked them for including him in this very special team moment and waved awkwardly while he left the room.

Dave was the last person to leave the room; "Henry, this was the best da... cupcake I've ever had. And I don't even like these brightly covered things. Good job, kid. Good job." He smiled genuinely at the small child and left the room to go back to his own office.

"Okay buddy, give me a really big hug." Henry hugged Emily tightly and gave her a sloppy kiss on her cheek before he took his mother's hand. At the door he waved at Emily who had started to clear the table of the remnants of cupcake crumbs and icing. Emily waved back at him and smiled while she watched the two blonds walk out of the BAU.

Emily knocked on the door which gave access to JJ's office; "Jayje? Can we talk for a minute?" She smiled at the blond who was barely visible behind the stacks of files which rested on nearly every flat surface in the office. She still couldn't understand how JJ could be this messy - though she kept claiming she had a system - at work while she didn't seem to have a problem with tidying up at home. Though that could probably be explained by the fact that Henry was getting older now and he might accidentally see something if they didn't make sure that every work related item they took home was locked away when they didn't need it. Their office had been off limits for Henry, however just in case they started locking the door a couple of months ago.

"Now?" JJ asked while she looked up from the file she had been working on. She brushed a strand of hair out of her face and smiled brightly she waved her hand making a 'forget-it' gesture before she continued to talk; "It doesn't matter really, I can make time, talk." She said with a gesture to the chair across from her desk, since they were at the office they had to keep it professional. But Emily had a different idea, she made her way around the desk and sat down on the edge right next to JJ, just like the blond often did when they were in the bullpen. She crossed her arms in front of her chest and smiled while she looked down at JJ. The blond tentatively brushed her hand along Emily's thigh. They tried to avoid any kind of personal contact at work, but sometimes a chance like this couldn't be passed up especially since they knew that no one would be able to see it, not even if they stood in the door opening. The stack of files prevented any one from seeing the gesture.

"Honestly though we might need more than just a minute." Emily smiled back; "I just want to take you out, just you ... no prying eyes."

"Meaning no Garcia. You're making me nervous."

Emily placed her hand on JJ's hand which was still resting on her thigh; "There is no reason to feel nervous. Do you have time right now, or do you want me to come back later? And yes, I meant no Garcia usually when we go out to lunch PG always ends up going with us and I love that, I do."

"But not today." JJ finished the sentence with a smile; "So this is personal. I am feeling a bit hungry, lets go now besides I wouldn't get any work done anyway since I would be wondering what you want to talk about with me. I'll tell Hotch that we'll be gone for a little while." Emily nodded, she stood up and held up JJ's coat so that she could put it on. The blond smiled at Emily's mannerisms, it made her feel extra special. At the door of JJ's office they split, JJ went to her right to tell Hotch that they were leaving for a lunch break while Emily retrieved her own coat.

They met each other at the glass doors and left quickly before any of the others caught on to the fact that they were going out for lunch. A quick getaway was key to going out without any of the other team members, normally they wouldn't care but today apparently there was something which Emily wanted to tell JJ without any prying eyes. It wasn't long before they stepped out into the early spring sun. And made their way to their car they weren't going far, just far enough to have some privacy.

Ten minutes later they were seated in a little booth at a cosy diner, a waitress walked up to them to take their order. JJ watched Emily closely, on the outside she seemed relaxed, but she knew all too well how good Emily was at keeping what she was really feeling locked up inside. Especially when she didn't want you to see it. Though the fact that she was able to look through that wall was something which made her feel better as well whatever it was that Emily had to say to her was nothing bad. That much was clear to her, nevertheless she was unable to settle her nerves.

Emily was looking down at her hands; "Stop looking at me that way, it makes me even more nervous." She stated softly, for the first time she actually showed that she was nervous.

"Then please start talking because you are making me nervous." JJ replied just as softly.

Emily breathed in deeply and looked up at JJ; "My real estate agent just called my apartment is sold."

"That is fantastic news!" The blond reacted happily, she really hadn't expected that there would be a buyer this fast even if Emily had told her differently. The economy was so bad right now, no one seemed to be able to sell their houses or properties but Emily had managed to do so. Emily had told her that an apartment in her building would sell fast, after all it was only attainable to people above a certain pay grade or with a lot of money in their bank accounts and those people managed to hang onto their money even if no one else seemed to be able to do so.

"It is, but there is more." Emily replied softly. Emily soft reply surprised JJ. Telling her that the apartment was sold was great news but nothing to be nervous about. They had been living together for months now so there were no real changes happening at this moment. Except that now all of Emily's mail would be forwarded to her house and some of Emily's belongings would have to go into storage or something.

"Okay, talk. You are really making me nervous now." JJ stated nervously, unfortunately the waitress chose that moment to bring them their food and coffee. Emily watched JJ apologetically and patiently waited for the waitress to leave their table.

"I asked my real estate agent to look for a house, a five bedroom house."

"Why?" JJ stated confused; "We have a house." The blond answered referring to her house, the one that she had been living in for years.

Emily swallowed hard, she had lifted her fork and pushed some of her food around the plate while she made her previous statement and so far she hadn't stopped. Emily placed her fork back on her plate and looked up at JJ; "Jennifer Jareau, I love you. I love you with all my heart and I love living with you and Henry. Now that we can really be a family in every sense of the word, everyone we love knows about our relationship I want to be able to have our own place. One that will truly be ours. Not one that you used to live in with Will, not one that you bought on your own but one that we choose together and decorated ourselves. Well we choose the decorations but someone else can do the work." Emily added with a smile as an after thought.

"A house, wow! But why the five bedrooms?" JJ asked not having forgotten about that specific statement the profiler had made before.

"The master bedroom, Henry's room, we also need an office big enough for both of our stuff and a guest room. For our parents when they come over or for Garcia when she's looking after Henry or when we have a girls night out."

"Okay, I might not be a genius like Reid but that still makes four rooms."

Emily turned a darker shade of red while she once again looked down at her plate. "Well, maybe we might have a reason to use that room in the future."

JJ got up from her seat - she noticed that Emily was refusing to look at her - she quickly moved around the table and sat down next to the brunette; "Is there something else you might want to ask me?"

**AN: That's it for now. Let me know what you think. Should I continue on? Start a new 'chapter' in their lives as a family together. Let me know what you think.**


	47. Chapter 47

**AN: Okay, I have decided to take this story further and at the end of this chapter you'll know it'll be a lot further than I ever expected this story to go. But I am happy about it, I have never put this much work into a story as I did and am still doing with this one. I hope you'll stick with me!**

**Chapter 47**

JJ got up from her seat - she noticed that Emily was refusing to look at her - she quickly moved around the table and sat down next to the brunette; "Is there something else you might want to ask me or tell me?"

"Well ... ehm no, no not specifically." Emily said softly while she avoided looking and answering JJ, it was more than obvious that there was something she wasn't saying and given the nature of the conversation it was more than obvious what it was that Emily wasn't saying out loud.

"Wow!" The blond couldn't help it, the simple exclamation had left her mouth before she realised that she had actually said it out loud. She was in all honesty surprised by the way that Emily avoided saying out loud what she so obviously was talking about. The way their conversation went had gone it was obvious what had been on Emily's mind - and apparently had been on her mind for a while.

Emily looked up in confusion, but she didn't react. The quick glance at her lover had told her everything she needed to know. JJ didn't actually need to hear her say it, but she wanted to hear her say it nevertheless. This was so not the time for this conversation, why the hell did she mention the five bedrooms? Emily must have known that she picked the worst time to start this conversation. JJ moved closer to Emily, she brushed a strand of hair away from the brunette's face; "Just say it, Emily."

"This is not the right time." Emily answered softly.

"No, you're probably right, this is not the right time, but why don't you just say it already, Emily." The blond encouraged the older woman with a smile. She reached forward and pulled her plate closer, she started to pick at the sandwich while she waited for the brunette to answer.

The brunette sighed deeply; "I want to take the next step." Emily looked up at JJ, with nothing but love and support in her eyes; "I am ready to take the next step. Everyone knows about us, I love you and Henry. I love him like he's my own."

"But there is something you're missing." It was a statement, not a question, she stated it casually before she took a bite from her sandwich.

Emily's head snapped up; "No, no I'm not missing something." Her voice raised. "I'm not. It's sounds so negative when you say it like that."

JJ rolled her eyes; "Ugh Emily, just say it already, you want to have a baby. It's not that hard to say."

Emily opened her mouth to say something, but no words came out. She tried again, with the same result. She was silent for a while but nothing about the situation felt right. This was not at all the way it was supposed to go. She had wanted to focus her attention of finding a house, make it their home before she brought this particular subject up; "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought this up when we can't talk about it. We need to get back soon." It was as if she had switched a button, she was all business. JJ hated it when this happened, she knew that it was probably only due to the fact that she didn't want to go into this conversation right now because there really was no time but nevertheless the reaction angered her.

JJ just nodded and started to eat the sandwich that had been brought to them a while ago, they ate in silence both lost in their own thoughts. Emily was fidgeting, the silence didn't feel good, it was strained. "Jayje, I'm sorry. I should have never brought this up."

"Don't say that, this is something we need to talk about. You just picked the wrong moment. That's all." A smile broke on JJ's face. "It's just ... it took me by surprise. I didn't know that you were thinking about this, you never said anything about it."

"I've been thinking about kids for a long, long time, long before we started dating. Which is one of the reasons why Henry has never been a problem for me." The brunette smiled at the thought of Henry; "Henry's wonderful, he brings so much joy and laughter to my life. When I hold him, hear his laughter or when he calls me mama he makes the world a little bit better, a little bit brighter. I honestly believe that having him in my life has alleviated my stress levels in regards to our job." The smile on Emily's face said more than she could ever say out loud; "There has been one thing I have always known for certain. I hated growing up alone, I always wanted to have a sibling. I even remember asking my parents if I could have a little brother for Christmas. I guess I hadn't been sweet enough that year, because I never got that present from Santa, I got a shitload of toys that I didn't want though ..." Emily added with a grin, JJ couldn't help but chuckle. "I wish I didn't specify what kind of a house I wanted my real estate agent to find. It would have made this conversation a whole lot easier. Or at least we could have had it at a better moment."

"Well, I can only agree with you on that one. Emily, I want to have another child with you. I don't want Henry to grow up alone either. I always looked up to my sister and I knew that she loved me even though she might have had that little annoyed smirk on her face whenever I asked her to play with me. I was always able to see how much she loved me, she couldn't hide that in her eyes. And whenever anyone was mean to me, my sister was the first to defend me. I want Henry to be a big brother, I want him to have a sibling." The blond smiled, secretly she had been thinking about having another child as well. She had been meaning to talk about it with Emily ever since the new year started but then the whole situation with Will had started. She had been so afraid that he would try to get custody of Henry that she had pushed any thoughts of a future to the back-burner. "Tonight, tonight we are going to have a conversation about this and about those houses your real estate agent found." JJ smiled at Emily while she spoke those words, she raised her hand up and stroked along Emily's jaw. It was a loving gesture.

The brunette smiled back; "Tonight, I promise I tell you everything."

"You better." The look on JJ's face showed nothing but love. "I love you."

"I love you too."

They arrived back at work and buried themselves in their cases, they called in consults and JJ occupied herself with the teams budget for the meeting that was planned for the following week - that was if no case came up. It was a good distraction but she couldn' t help but glance over at Emily every once in a while and try to imagine what their future would be like. She couldn't wait for the clock to hit five, so they could finally go home. She wanted to have that conversation about Emily's ideas for their future and she sure would weigh in with her own ideas.

After the longest possible afternoon it was finally time to go home. JJ couldn't wait, at exactly five she grabs her bag and coat and makes her way down into the bullpen, Emily sees her coming down the few steps and smiles when she looks up. It's more than obvious that they are both eager to get home.

"So ladies, got a hot date tonight?" Morgan asked while he leaned back in his chair, he hooked his hands behind his head while he watched his co-workers with a smug smile.

"Hey, I go home with Jayje, I have a hot date every night." Emily answered with a smile.

"Ohh smooth, Prentiss. Real smooth." Morgan answered with a grin. Emily just smiled smugly in reply, she wrapped her arm around JJ's shoulder and led the younger woman out of the bullpen.

JJ giggled, a very girlie giggle while she looked up at Emily; "That was pretty cheesy." JJ answered as soon as the glass door closed behind them.

Emily just shrugged and pushed the elevator button; "Doesn't matter. You love me anyway."

They made the trip downstairs and picked Henry up from day care - soon he would start to go to school. Right now they were just happy to have Henry close to them, it would be difficult when that was no longer the case. Now if they had to go away on a minutes notice they could come downstairs and say bye to Henry. Once he was going to school that was a liberty they no longer had. Neither one of them was looking forward to that particular moment. Henry came running towards them the second he spotted them in the door opening. Soon the little family was on their way home.

That night Henry was basically rushed upstairs and in bed a little earlier than usual, both women knew that the conversation they were about to have would take time and they were both eager to start the conversation. JJ was finishing story time with Henry while Emily poured two glasses of wine and sat down in the living room waiting for JJ to join her.

Emily handed JJ her glass of wine as soon as she sank down on the couch, JJ pulled her legs up on the couch, she leaned sideways against the back of the couch so that she could watch Emily. She wanted to be able to see the profilers face, she wanted to read her. The brunette mirrored JJ, she smiled at her nervously. This was one of those situations were Emily would have to bare her soul, her deepest wishes and thoughts and no matter how much she trusted JJ it was still a hard thing for her to do.

"Talk to me. You know that you can say anything to me." JJ encouraged the older woman, who had learned from an early age on that feelings were not something you discussed.

The brunette took a sip from her wine and nodded; "I know, really believe me I do. It's just, I have never talked about this with anyone." She took a deep breath in and released it; "Okay, here it goes. Like I said earlier today, my apartment is sold and I got a good price on it. And I have been thinking for a while that I would really like to look for a house, a bigger one like I said this afternoon. I want to find a house and make it ours for our family. Ever since Will announced his plans to move back to New Orleans and leave Henry with us I realised that I wanted more. I guess that I have wanted it all along but I was too afraid that something would happen ... If I spoke my mind."

"Don't worry, nothing is going to happen. Henry and I are not going anywhere. We will go and find that perfect house together and make it ours. Maybe it was wrong of me to ever ask you to move in here, this house had a lot history and I should have realised that it would be weird for you moving into this house so shortly after Will moved out. Now about that fifth bed room ..." JJ inquired with a smile.

"Yeah, about that. I am so sorry. That wasn't very smart."

"No, you could have done that differently, it was the truth though, wasn't it?" JJ inquired with a smile, she already knew the answer to the question.

A smile broke on the profilers face; "Yes, it's the truth we need extra room because I would really like to add another child to our family. I've always wanted to have kids but ... it just never happened. At least not since I've been an adult. If it's just going to be the three of us, that's fine too but I've always hoped that I would one day have a couple of kids. I didn't like growing up alone, and I don't want my child growing up alone. But it's not because I'm missing something. I promise you, it's not that."

JJ quickly leaned in and kissed the brunette passionately; "I love it when you talk about Henry like he's your own. It's so sexy."

Emily kissed JJ back, she had no idea why JJ would call it sexy when she talked about Henry that way. To her it was just a natural thing. "I consider him to be my own." The brunette shrugged, there never had been a doubt in her mind. If push came to shove she would do anything for Henry, anything.

"So I take it that you want to be the one to carry our next child?" JJ's arm was resting on the back of the couch, her hand was entangled in the brunette's hair. She watched Emily closely, she wanted to see what Emily was thinking even if she might not say everything out loud.

"Well, I don't know if I can. But I would like to try, I know that it's a risk ... I mean with my age and my past." Emily was silent again; "I don't think I ever told you this, no I know I never told you I never told anyone ... a couple of years back I looked into adoption, I wanted to have a family but before I could go through with it I realised that I didn't want to do it on my own. And besides that with our job no one would give me a chance to adopt a baby - especially since I had no partner and no support system to speak off. I gave up on that dream before I ever really did anything with it. If we are going to do this, I want to at least try and be the one to have our next baby." Emily didn't look away, she knew that it wouldn't matter because JJ knew her inside and out. The blond had the ability to look right through her, straight to her core.

JJ smiled; "How about we seek medical advice, make sure that you get a full check up and we can move from there. They should be able to tell us if there is medically speaking anything that could prevent you from getting pregnant. And we can go from there. Honestly speaking, I have no idea what's going to happen, I got pregnant because of drunken stupidity so I have no idea what those test could be, we will figure it out together." The blond offered with a smile, JJ leaned her head on Emily's shoulder.

The brunette immediately wrapped her arm around her shoulder and kissed the top of her head. "Thank you."

"Why are you thanking me?"

"Because we can talk about something like this."

"Oh Emily, we are in a relationship together, if we couldn't talk to each other about something like this. We sure as hell don't have any business being in a relationship." JJ smiled while she eased her body down on the couch. She laid her head down on Emily's lap.

The profiler smiled down at her; "I guess you are right."

"Oh, you better belief I'm right." The blond chuckled. The room went silent, both of them were no doubt lost in their own dreams of their mutual future.

Emily had no idea how much time had passed when a certain thought suddenly dawned on her. "Should we get married?" The brunette asked out of the blue.

"Wow! You really know the way to a girl's heart!" JJ answered with a chuckle. "Twice in a day!"

"Stop it! That was not my way for asking you. If this was me asking you, belief me you would have known! " Emily replied with a chuckle while she rolled her eyes at JJ; "I'm serious. We never talked about it."

JJ chuckled loudly; "I'm just teasing you. I know you're serious."

"What do you think? Should we get married or not?" Emily replied softly.

"That depends, the fact that you have to ask me if we should tells me that it's not something you want to do. At least it's not something that you considered before." JJ spoked softly, as if she was afraid to hurt Emily if she made the wrong conclusions.

Emily sighs, she looks down at JJ who's lying on the couch with her head in the brunette's lap. "Well, you are right, it's not something I have ever really thought about. I never had to, there never was anyone who I wanted to be with for the rest of my life. You can't really blame me. Except for your parents I don't know anyone with a happy marriage." She shrugs in defeat.

"Your parents are married." JJ replied.

"Yes ... but far from happily." The brunette smiled; "I did say happy marriage, didn't I?"

"Yes, yes, you did say happy! They seem to be doing okay, though."

Emily chuckled; "It took them thirty plus years to get there, their marriage was a business transaction. Nothing more, nothing less. It was a merger between two rich families and both of them got better from it. But love ... no, not when it started out at least. They had me because that was what was supposed to happen, they need to have an heir after all." Emily sighed, she contemplated if she should continue to talk or leave the rest to JJ's imagination. "My mother handed me off to my nanny as soon as she could and went back to her ambassador's fancy dinners and other obligations. My father, well he was hardly ever around and when he was he and my mother spend most of the time fighting until he went back to the US. He chased skirts, he often choose women who were a whole lot younger. Honestly all the clichés applied in this situation. It took them a long, long time to get to a place where what they had could actually be called love. I don't even get how they actually got to where they are now. It's just ... I don't understand it. So no, in all honesty I have no idea if we should get married. I've never wanted to get married because my parents turned it into a business arrangement there was no room for love. I never had a good example and when I look around me right now there's only your parents. I mean Hotch's marriage failed, Rossi has three ex-wife's ... and the rest of us never even got that far. And you ... I don't know what you're ideas on marriage are."

JJ had listened in silence, it was obvious that Emily needed to get this off her chest. She needed to say everything she had said, it was a process for Emily, a way to work through things. It was something she started to do once she started to trust JJ enough to open up to her. "I never thought about getting married, not even as a little girl. I never dreamed of walking down the aisle in a white dress. And when we first got together I never thought that you wanted to get married either, because you refused to get married to Will ... twice, maybe even three times." She opened her mouth to say something else; "I never thought that this would be an issue, but if we add another child to our family maybe we should consider it."

JJ smiled; "I never agreed to marrying Will because I knew that I didn't love him enough ... at the time our relationship worked but I never saw a future for us, at least not one that would last. Henry is what kept us together." The blond was silent, contemplating something she wanted to say before actually saying it; "How about a commitment ceremony, we can do it exactly the way we want to do it, we can invite our family and friends. Besides, no matter what we do we still have to make sure that we have all the necessary paperwork in order because our marriage wouldn't be recognised - no matter how badly we would want it to be like a regular marriage - some people fail to see that it is just that."

"I like that idea. I really do." Emily answered with a smile. She felt more comfortable with this idea than a church wedding - which would just be to please the people around her, mostly her parents. After her run in with the church back when she was fifteen, she never felt particularly comfortable there. Taken their views on gay relationships or marriages into consideration she wanted to stay as far away from church as she could possibly be. "I like this, we should figure out what it is we want to do. Maybe we can have a party once we have a house. You know, do it all at once."

JJ wrapped her arms around Emily's neck and kissed her; "Do you realise what we just did?"

"Nope, tell me what's did we just do?" The brunette asked with a smile.

"We agreed to find a new house, make it ours. And we decided to look into having a baby and possibly getting married or at least do our own equivalent of it. Other couples take a lifetime to make those type of decisions and we make all of them in a matter of hours. Are we crazy?"

Emily chuckled; "No. We are definitively not crazy! We have just really found each other and we want to make it last. I'm glad we're on the same page."

"Emily, can I call my parents?"

"Sure you can, you don't need my permission." Emily answered with a chuckle; "But I wouldn't tell them everything we've discussed today."

"Of course not, we have to keep some secrets from them but I want to tell them something." An eagerness was visible in JJ's eyes and in her tone of voice and in the smile on her face. She grabbed her phone from the table and made the connection. She waited impatiently while the connection was made; "Mom, hi! Oh, damn I'm so sorry, I didn't realise what time it was. I am so sorry. No, I promise you everything is fine. Perfect even." At JJ's previous words their heads snapped up to the clock and it showed that that it was indeed pretty late, later than she would usually call her parents so it was no real surprise that her mother was afraid that something had happened to either one of them. "Mom, is dad home? He is? Good, can you put the phone on speaker?" She herself did the same thing. "Emily's here as well."

"Hi Emily." Mary chuckled; "Are you two sure that you're both alright?"

"Hello Mary, William. Good evening. Yes, we are both fine, Henry is too. Sorry for calling so late. Neither I nor Jayje had an idea we were calling this late. I promise next time we'll check the clock before we call."

"It's no problem, honey. It's just that I got scared for a second there. I was afraid that something had happened to either one of you. With your jobs it's always a possibility after all." Mary answered, William hummed in agreement.

"Good evening Jenny, Emily."

"Hi daddy." JJ answered with a smile, she was a daddy's girl. She always had been and probably always would be. "Emily and I were talking an there are a couple of things I would really like to tell you."

"What's that, honey?"

"Emily and I were talking - and after the whole Will thing we decided that we want to make a change. We have decided that we're going to start looking for a house. One that we can call our own." JJ said happily all the while she was staring at Emily. A smile graced her face, she was sure that her mother would be ecstatic just like she was.

"Honey! That is wonderful news! Congratulations."

"That is a good step forward, you two girls need your own place. One that is truly yours." William answered with a smile; "I have always thought that it was kind of odd seeing Emily instead of Will at your place."

"Yes dad, I know. I have to admit it wasn't ideal, but it was all we could do especially since no one at work was in the know about our relationship." JJ explained. "Well to be honest, it was Emily who asked me if I would like to look for a house. She's sold her apartment and asked her real estate agent if she could look into family homes." JJ answered with a huge grin, while she looked up at Emily and silently mouthed 'with five bedrooms'. A tease which she strengthenes by counting to five on her fingers. Emily swatted the blond against her hand and glared at her.

The media liaison couldn't keep the laughter from erupting.

"What was that?" Mary asked at the sound of the slap followed by the laughter.

"Oh, ehm nothing." Emily mumbled.

"Emily Prentiss, you did not just slap my daughter, did you?" William asked, barely able to contain his chuckle.

"Well Sir, to be honest I did. But in my defence she really was asking for it."

"Oh Emily, we're just teasing you, that laughter was a dead give away." William chuckled.

"Dad!" JJ exclaimed loudly.

Mary chuckled at her daughters exclamation; "Okay honey! Now to get back to the initial topic of this call I think that it's a wonderful thing and I am really happy for the two of you. But what did you mean with that comment about Will?"

"Will? Oh uhm, well we both noticed that he wasn't doing all that well. And we were really worried, especially when he showed up at our door unannounced telling us that he needed to talk to us. I was sure that he was going to try and get full custody and I am pretty sure that it would have been hard for Emily and I to keep him with us. With our jobs and the hours we make, we would have to make a lot of changes to our lives and who knows if that would have been enough? But Will..." JJ swallowed hard; "That was not what he came to tell us. He told us that he had decided to go back to New Orleans, back to his roots so to say. But he wants us to take care of Henry. It sounds so strange when I say it out loud, but he actually told us that he would leave Henry with us. He's going to build up a new life down there. He misses his home, but he acknowledges that this is Henry's home and he doesn't want to take that away from him." JJ smiled; "I guess I still can't really believe it. My own fear made me see all of these doom scenarios. But it's good, mom, really it is. We're going to visit him when he's settled in."

"Will spend his last weekend in DC with us. He took Henry on a couple of day trips, in the evening we shared a meal and talked. We told Henry what was going on last Sunday, it was difficult ... but we managed. Will skyped with Henry a couple of times and he send us pictures of his new place. He sounded happy, content with his choice." Emily explained to Mary and William; "He's doing well and that's important to us and especially to Henry."

"I'm glad to hear that everything worked out." Mary sounded relieved, they never really talked about it but they all knew that they had some of the same fears. Of course they too had the fear that their daughter might loose her son, that they would never be able to see him grow up. After all you hear enough stories about nasty custody battles around you, you didn't really have to look all that far to hear stories about parents who can't have a civil conversation with each other after they break up. All four of them had the same fears.

"So, a house. What kind of a house are you looking for?" William asked with interest.

JJ chuckled, she held up her hand counting to five on her fingers before she answered her parents; "We aren't sure yet, just a house that feels like a home to both of us. We'll figure it out when we look at the options we have, I guess." The blond answered with a bright smile on her face.

"Okay, will you let us know how everything goes?" Mary asked them with a smile; "And remember if you need any help let us know and I am sure that we can help you two out one way or another."

"Of course we'll let you know." JJ and Emily answered simultaneously.

Mary and William laughed; "Good, you two better keep that promise."

"Of course we will, Mom." The blond smiled; "It's getting late, we'll have to be up early tomorrow. We'll talk soon. Goodnight, mom, dad. I love you."

She waited for her parents and Emily to say their goodbye's before she disconnected the line. "I love you, Emily."

"I love you too." The brunette leaned down and kissed the blond passionately. "Let's go upstairs."

"Oh honey, I like the way you're thinking." JJ answered while she rolled herself off the couch and stretched her hand out to Emily. The older woman took the hand and got up as well.

It was two days later when Emily stepped into the living room with a heavy looking plastic box. She put it down on the table; "Jayje honey, we need to talk about something."

The blond who had been preparing coffee looked up in surprise; "Talk about what?"

"Finances. My finances to be more specific." The brunette answered while she patted the box next to her on the table.

"Ehm okay." She pulled two large mugs from the cabinet and prepared their coffees before she joined Emily at the table. "Okay, I am all yours, what is it you want to tell me?" JJ asked while she took a sip from her coffee.

"Since we talked about buying a house and prepare for a future together - with another child - I have been meaning to tell you about my finances. To be honest I've been meaning to tell you about it for a while. You know that my family is quite wealthy, and that I am a trust-fund child. The truth is that I have always worked and that I never spend copious amounts of money. So while I worked, the amount grew even more because of some investments I made. This past December I decided that I wanted to make sure that you would be able to handle my financial if something happened to me. We never know with our job."

JJ opened her mouth to say something but Emily stopped her; "No. No, let me talk. I know that you're not after my money. I know that you probably never even thought about it either. But it's important to me. I see Henry and you as my family, I have never felt this way about anyone before. I've never felt the need to share any of this with anyone. Mostly because the only people I've ever been with were interested in me because of my family-name and the fortune that comes with it. But you are different on so many levels. So a while back I decided that I wanted you to be the second name on all of my accounts."

"Emily, you don't have to."

"Yes. I do. If we want to be a couple, if we want to do the whole commitment thing we are going to do it all the way. Everything." Emily said, it was a statement, one that left little room for negotiation.

"Emily, what about your parents?" The blond enquired, she knew that Emily's parents had turned around on their initial opinion of her and their relationship but would that hold up if Emily suddenly made a life changing decision like this.

"What about them?"

"Will they be okay with this? I know that they came around but they haven't known about us for all that long ..."

Emily silenced JJ with a kiss; "This is between you and me."

"But ... I have nothing for you."

"You have everything I need, everything I want." Emily interrupted JJ, though she spoke softly and with a smile; "I don't care about what you have or don't have, this is what I want. You're it." Emily lifted JJ's chin, she searched for the blue orbs and found them filled with tears. "You're it." She repeated and kissed the blond tenderly. The tears started to cascade down her cheeks, Emily's thumbs stroked them away. "I can never prove to you how much I love you. But you gave me all that money can't buy, you gave me a family. And you gave me something which might even be more important, you gave me a future."

"That sounds quite dramatic." JJ replied through her tears; "I love you too, Emily." The media liaison wrapped her arms around her and pulled her as close as humanly possible.

"It might sound dramatic but you're the one crying, honey." Emily pulled the chair away from the table and gestured to JJ to sit down. She herself took the other chair and sank into the seat, she pulled the box close and opened the lid. She placed it on one of the other chairs and started to take bundles of papers out of the box. "Okay, I am going to tell you everything but please let me talk, you can ask questions later."

The blond nodded; "This sounds pretty serious."

"I guess it is, it's a lot of money." She picked up the top file folder and opened it in front of them. "This is the most important one. In my family it's normal to set up a trust fund for any children born into the family. Now I know that Henry's not mine by biology but since we started dating he's been part of my every day life. I would like to set up a trust fund for him. No, please don't interrupt me, I know that you and Will are his parents and I will always honour that but he deserves the same changes I had. I will set it up in the same manner as my parents did with my trust fund. If he chooses to go to college or an university he will be able to pay it from the trust fund if he doesn't the money will be released to him when he turns twenty five in hopes that he will be mature enough to handle the amount of money correctly. I don't want Will or you to worry about something as vital as his education especially with the economic situation right now. If we have a child of our own I will do the same thing. Henry's going to grow up with us and any siblings we might have in the future, he calls me mama and I will do whatever I can for him. I promise you that I will treat him the same way I might treat any other child that comes along. Setting aside a trust fund for him is one of the things I have to do for him. I hope that Will and you can understand that."

"Emily, is this the amount of money we are talking about?" JJ asked pointing at the place on the file where the total amount was printed.

"Yes, that is the normal amount of money which is set up for a trust fund in my family." The brunette stated matter of factually.

"Emily, that's a ridiculous amount."

The brunette shrugged in reply, to her it was normal. She had always known that her family set money aside for her; "It's not that much especially not when you look at the costs of a good school nowadays imagine what it will be in fifteen years."

JJ couldn't really argue with that logic, Emily was right. A good education was ridiculously expensive."Thank you, Emily ... I love you so much not just for this but for everything you do for us." She leaned in and kissed the brunette; "I might just be a small town girl but how much money are we talking about, in total I mean? If this is the amount you can just set aside for Henry." JJ asked in surprise, she knew that Emily was rich, she knew that she was a trust fund child. But she had never thought about the amount of money, probably because she knew that the money had never made Emily happy. Her parents had used their money to give her everything she had ever wanted except for love. When they had visited the Prentiss Mansion for the party back in December it had become more than obvious that there was a lot of money in that family still, even with the current economical crises.

Emily opened three separate folders and placed them open on top of the table. JJ scanned the papers on top of each stack; "Three separate bank accounts, one in Europe." She stated softly, she never touched the papers, she just looked at them.

"It's safer that way, with the economy." Emily tried to keep the conversation casually - but how do you keep a conversation like this casually. "My parents - since they always travelled - always made sure their money was spread out into multiple accounts. Which was a smart move because being an Ambassador is a pretty dangerous job and I guess that it can't hurt."

"Emily, this is ridiculous! This amount of money ..." JJ exclaimed, obviously in shock.

"Yeah, it's not something you just tell someone when you meet them, is it?" The brunette asked the rhetorical question while she kept an eye on JJ's reaction, she hated to use her profiler skills on JJ but she knew that she had no real choice. "Jayje, honey is this going to be a problem?"

"No." The blond answered too fast.

Emily sighed; "Jayje, please. I need to know?" She pleaded with the younger woman.

The blond turned towards the brunette and a smile broke on her face; "Oh Emily, this is not a problem. It will never be a problem. It's a shock, that's all there is to it, I have never seen such a large amount of money." JJ noticed that she was rambling, she stopped herself and breathed in deeply to calm herself down. "This will never stand between us. This just means that we can buy a whole street instead of just one house." She added as an after thought with a grin.

Emily erupted in laughter - she could feel the fear and tension slip away from her body; "Honey, it seems like a lot of money but I can assure you that it's no were near enough to purchase a whole street. Besides why would you want to buy a whole street ... unless you're planning on becoming a real estate agent or something." Emily inquired with a grin.

"Hmmm ... let me think about that one." JJ answered while she acted as if she was contemplating her choice; "Let's make that appointment with your real estate agent and I will see if I might switch careers. I mean it's not really that big of a leap from a special agent to a real estate agent, I'll still be an agent. And besides that, my parents would love it! The worst injury you can get is a nasty paper cut from shuffling all of that paper. Don't you think so? It's less dangerous than what I do now and communication is still a big part of it." The blond gave Emily a mock frown still acting as if she was actually considering switching jobs. Which was something Emily couldn't even imagine her actually doing, she knew that if JJ wanted she could get a job anywhere. She received more than enough job offers, from the FBI, CIA, the Pentagon and even the White House. And she also knew that her doing her job for the FBI and the hours they worked along with the trips out of town had been one of the biggest issues between JJ and Will. And the blond had never felt the need to leave the bureau. So becoming a real estate agent really was not something JJ would consider, no matter how hard she tried to make it look like she was actually considering it Emily knew better.

"I bet your parents would love it but you ... not so much. Nevertheless Jayje, I want you to know that I will support you, always."

"Thank you and right back at ya." The blond leaned in and kissed the brunette; "I didn't know about the money. No, no wait that's not what I mean, obviously I knew about the money it would have been pretty naive if I didn't know. But I never thought about it. I never realised what it could mean."

"What it could mean?" Emily asked softly.

"You own a lot of money, and I have nothing in return." The blond answered; "You know the world, I just know the small town that I grew up in and Pittsburgh and now Washington. I don't know, it just makes me wonder what you see in me ... I know that you don't care about that ... it doesn't

"Honey, you have everything, literally everything I ever wanted. You gave me a family that is worth so much more than any amount of money. Besides that is why I love you." The brunette smiled sincerely.

"What about your parents?"

"They will understand."

"Do you believe that or is that what you hope will happen?" JJ asked softly, the papers on the table temporarily forgotten.

"I hope that they will ... they have to. They might not like it, but Jayje it's my money to spend as I see fit. I never spend it on anything I didn't need and I am not doing that now either. This is something I thought about and I considered everything and I want to do this for us, for our family. Because that's what's important to me."

"Emily, I don't want this to cause a rift between you and your parents, I don't want to do this behind their back either. You know if we buy a house together - well, you know what I mean - they will ask you how we paid for it, you know that they will because this is something that's important to them." The blond considered if she should or shouldn't say what she was about to say. "We need to talk to them."

"I just got them back..."

"Oh honey," JJ moved closer she wanted to give Emily all the support she needed and wanted; "I know it might be hard but I want you to talk to them. You have to explain to them why you want to do this. If they hear that we bought a house together and used your money to pay for it they might make conclusions which aren't fair to anyone of us and it could potentially do more damage. It's going to be obvious that I can never pay the same amount of money as you could potentially pay. We shouldn't take that risk."

Emily nodded her head, she really couldn't argue with JJ's logic, she knew that it was true. "That is not going to be a conversation to look forward too."

"Probably not, I guess it's a necessary evil." JJ provided. "I'm not sure what's better, do it together or not. If you want me there with you I will go with you of course. It might be a good idea if they can ask me question they might have."

"I'm not sure either, but maybe we should go together ..."

"And form an united front." The blond finished the sentence. "Maybe we can talk to your parents tomorrow after work? I can see if Garcia can look after Henry."

The brunette pulled her phone from her pocket and dialed her mother's number. She talked to her for a while before she signed to JJ that it was a go for tomorrow night. The blond pulled her own phone and dialed Garcia. The Technical Analyst agreed immediately, she would come home with them after work. They could have dinner together after which Emily and JJ could leave to do whatever it was that they needed to do. Garcia refused to believe that they were going to visit Emily's parents and couldn't take Henry with them, especially since JJ told her how much Emily's parents had changed lately. "Okay Pen, believe what ever you want to believe, we're just glad that you're able to help us out."

The blond laughed at Garcia's reaction and said her goodbye's before hanging up on her. She gave Emily a thumbs up and waited for her to finish her call. The brunette joined her as soon as she disconnected the call. "My parents asked me if we wanted to have dinner with them. I told them that we couldn't because we had already plans. We'll meet them at seven thirty."

"Sounds good to me. It should give us enough time to have dinner and drive to their mansion." JJ replied to Emily; "Oh, by the way don't be surprised if you get the third degree from Pen tomorrow. She wouldn't believe me when I told her that you and I were going to visit your parents and that Henry couldn't come with us."

"Well, Pen might be good but I am sure that I can handle a third degree from her." Emily chuckled.

"You better watch it she might do a 'thing' if your answers don't satisfy her ..."

"Right, she wouldn't dare."

"I wouldn't be so sure, honey."


	48. Chapter 48

**AN: In the last chapter I made a couple of future promises, things I love to write about. And I certainly want to write the future for this amazing couple but those are also topics I know hardly anything about. So I have a lot of research ahead of me. Just know that if I'm not updating I am certainly working on my story. I wish the process could be done faster but I have a day job, unfourtunately. **

**Let me know what you think, I am open to suggestions. **

**Chapter 48**

"So you two are going to meet with Emily's parents?" Garcia asked while she looked from one woman to the other - she was actually pointing her fork at the two women. She wanted to figure out if that was really where they were going or if their was some other business they wanted to take care of on their on without Henry there.

"Yes, we are, Garcia. Promise." JJ told her friend once again, with a roll of her eyes this time.

"Are you sure?" The blond tech inquired while she pointed her fork once again at JJ and Emily. It was not so much that she didn't believe them, it was more that she believed that something else was going on, since they didn't want to bring Henry with them. And if there was any truth to the things that JJ had told her the relationship with Emily's parents had been progressing really well. So the change of heart about Henry staying home worried her in a way. Of course those were worries she couldn't talk about in front of the boy.

"Yes, I am pretty sure that I have an appointment with my parents at their mansion. I can call them if you like? So they can confirm it." Emily answered keeping her tone of voice light while she flashed a smile, she picked up her phone.

Garcia squinted at her; "Nope, that's alright. I can always just track your phones if I want to." She added casually with a smile.

Emily decided to play along for a little while longer; "No, I insist, I can call them it's no trouble at all." She started to scroll through the menus when Garcia stopped her.

"Yes. I'm sure, but I'm watching you." The tech added for good measure with a grin.

"You're going to see grandma en grandpa?" Henry asked with red spaghetti sauce stains all around his mouth and on his cheeks.

"We are." JJ confirmed.

"I want to go too!" The blond kid spoke loudly while he slammed his spoon on the table.

"Don't slam on the table with the spoon." JJ scolded her son's behavior. "I'm sorry, buddy. Not today." The blond answered her sons' question; "But Aunty Pen is staying with you and I'm sure that she has a really cool movie with her for you two to watch before you go to bed."

"Of course I have! I'm the coolest person you know, I always have some cool movie with me especially movies that I can watch with the little munchkin." The tech said with a chuckle while she bumped fists with Henry who was sitting next to her. Garcia looked up at JJ with a smile on her face, which fell when she noticed Emily. The tech glanced at JJ, her eyes speaking for her.

JJ averted her eyes from Garcia to Emily, the brunette was sitting next to her with slumped shoulders. Her eyes were firmly fixed on her plate. JJ reached her hand out and placed it on Emily's thigh underneath the table. The brunette's head snapped up, she stared at JJ and smiled - a barely visible smile. She mouthed are you okay to the brunette, who nodded in response. She averted her eyes back to her plate and finished eating, as soon as she was done she got up and excused herself. The brunette quickly made it up the stairs.

"Where's mama going?" Henry asked while he watched Emily, he was sitting on his knees backwards on the chair looking at the stairs behind him where his mama had disappeared to the top level.

"I think that she's going upstairs to change clothes before we leave." JJ placed her utensils on the table, JJ pleaded with Garcia to keep Henry downstairs for the time being. The blond tech nodded in agreement and watched as JJ got up from her seat; "You know what, maybe I should do the same thing."

"Yes, maybe you should, Henry and and I will stay here and finish dinner." Garcia replied out loud before she bend towards Henry and finished softly; "The two of us will see if there is any desert in the fridge." JJ smiled while she made her way up the stairs.

JJ pushed the door open and stepped into her bedroom, she took a seat next to Emily who was sitting on the bed. The brunette was sitting besides her, her shoulders slumped. She felt bad, they always tried to include Henry in their plans and keeping, she knew that he wanted to visit his grandparents too. He loved having grandparents living close by - since he had heard that they were Emily's parents he had dubbed them his grandparents - a fact which might have made it easier on Emily's parents to accept her relationship with JJ for what it was. But she couldn't help but wonder how long that would last. She was still doubting her own parents - mostly her mother - she couldn't really help it.

"Talk to me." JJ asked the profiler softly.

"What if this ruins the progress we made in these last couple of months?" Emily sighs; "What if we take Henry's 'adopted' grandparents away from him?" The older woman rubbed her eyes but refuses to look at her lover.

"Emily, don't worry so much. Your mother - against all odds, I might add - stood up for you, for us when that bigoted asshole couldn't keep his mouth shut. They have taken care of Henry when we went away for our Valentines weekend. Your parents knew what that weekend was about. I think that they have accepted us as a couple and if us looking for a house together is what sends them off in the other direction ... I'm not sure if I want them to be in our lives." JJ spoke softly, she had really grown to like the older Prentiss' couple over the short period of time that she knew them.

"I feel bad, we always try to include Henry in the things we do and now we tell him flat out that we are going to see my parents and we leave him here with Garcia."

"Oh, Emily, don't worry about it. He'll get over it, he and his Aunty Pen are right now eating our dessert - probably more than one - and I'm pretty sure that the movie they are going to watch will take care of any residual feelings he might have. I'm sure that he already forgotten about it all. Oh, by the way if we don't want any more questions about the subject we best make sure that we put some other clothes on before we leave." JJ replies, she pats Emily's leg and opens the closet door. She picks one of her button-up shirts and places it on the bed. "Here why don't you put this on, I love that colour on you." JJ handed a shirt to Emily who took it with a grateful smile.

She started to undo the buttons on the shirt she was wearing, and pulled the one JJ had handed her on. Emily placed the one she had worn before in the laundry basket in the bathroom and returned to the bed room. She kissed JJ who was brushing her hair in front of the mirror and smiled at her. "Thanks."

"Don't thank me, this is the way it should be."

"That might be true but I still want to thank you." She wrapped her arms around JJ from behind, she pulled her close and kissed the crook of her neck.

"Are you ready?" The blond leaned into Emily's embrace and tilted her head to the side; "We should probably go."

"Hmm... we should."

"Let's go, the sooner we go ... the sooner we can continue this."

JJ parked the car in front of the Prentiss mansion and cut the engine. "This feels ... I feel the same way I did when we came here the first time."

"I know exactly what you mean." Emily muttered. "Let's go in, get this over with." Emily got out of the car and waited for JJ to join her, the blond took her hand and together they made their way to the front door. Apparently their parents hadn't noticed that they had arrived because the door was still closed.

Emily rang the bell and waited impatiently for the door to open, she nervously hopped from one foot onto the other. The door finally opened and Elizabeth invited them in with a smile; "Good evening, where's Henry?"

"Good evening to you too, mother. Henry's at home, Penelope is with him." The brunette smiled and quickly hugged her mother, JJ greeted and hugged the older Prentiss woman as well.

"Emily, Jennifer, it so good to see you?" Edward said with his warm voice, Emily smiled and hugged her father. The brunette just hoped that this was not going to be the last time that her parents opened the door with a smile and a hug. She couldn't help but feel worried about the conversation they were about to have. "Please come in, the coffee is already brewing. Why didn't you two bring Henry with you?"

"There is something we would like to talk to you about, it's not really something we can discus with Henry around ... it's better this way." They made their way into the den, the aroma of coffee hit their nostrils. A tablet was placed on the table steaming mugs of coffee and a can were standing on top of it. They took a seat, Emily and JJ close to each other on the couch. Emily's parents across from them in the chairs.

"There was something you wanted to talk to us about?"

Emily took a sip from her coffee before she started to talk; "Yes, we do." The brunette replied with a smile while she took a hold of JJ's hand. The blond smiled back, but she didn't speak, Emily's parents needed to hear what their daughter had to say from Emily. JJ was merely here for moral support and if the Prentiss' had any questions for her she would answer them but the best plan of action was to let Emily go their plans. "Jayje and I have been talking, we are very happy with our relationship and the way things are. But we have decided that we're going to look for a different house. Since everyone who we care about is in the know about our relationship we can now take the steps we want to take to move our relationship forward."

"That's wonderful news, darling. Do you need the number for my real estate agent?"

"No mother, I have my own real estate agent for years now and she has helped me so well in the past. That is not why we are here. She actually helped me to sell my apartment recently, and I have already asked her to be on the lookout for a home for us." Emily bit her lip. "I came here to tell you that I am going to use the money from the trust fund to buy the house. I am also changing the papers, I have decided that I am going to let my lawyer draw up new papers, I want Jennifer to be able to have access to the money in case something happens to me. I have to be realistic, in our line of work we put ourselves in danger on a daily bases and we never know if we'll be able to make it home at the end of the day."

"Emily..."

"No mother, I'm serious and I'm not here to discus this, we are here because we wanted you to know about this before we take any steps necessary. I have made this decision, I'm doing this. I wanted you to know before we do anything in hopes that it won't cause a rift between us." Emily breathed in deeply; "I just hope that you can understand my reasons behind this, Jayje and I have only talked about this last night. I didn't tell her about any of this before I made my decisions, she's not like the others." Emily felt like a teenager again, pleading with her parents to see things the way she saw them instead of the way they viewed the world. JJ was not like so many other people who would try to get in their good graces to hope and one day gain some of the fortune they had. Emily had met more than enough people who feigned an interest in her for only that reason. She was sure that Jennifer wasn't one of them.

The twitching of her jaw showed that her mother wanted to say something, but she didn't. Her father however was different, he always had been different. Emily had always loved the times when her father was home - things were good when he was there, though that had never been very often. He leaned forward and smiled warmly; "Well Jennifer, I guess that a welcome to the family is in order. You do understand that this means that you have certain obligations as well, right?"

"Obligations? What exactly does that mean, obligations?" JJ asked, speaking up for the first time since they sat down in the den.

Edward Prentiss chuckled, a deep warm sound erupted from him; "Don't worry yourself, I am merely talking about the fund raiser in December, Jennifer."

"Oh, well I don't mind attending that again this December ... it was very entertaining." She answered with a chuckle.

"Hmm, yes that was a very interesting night." Edward laughed; "It will always be a very memorable night, wasn't it Elizabeth?" He asked while he turned to his wife who had mostly kept silent.

"Yes, you are right. It was a memorable night, Emily and I talked. We got to know Jennifer and Henry." Elizabeth answered with a smile obviously reminiscing this past December. Her whole appearance had changed in the blink of an eye.

"Yes, Elizabeth exactly. And that is why Emily and Jayje are here. They are here to talk to us about their plans for their future."

"You are right, again." Elizabeth admitted - something which didn't come easy to her mother, that much was obvious - but she admitted it and that was counted. "Emily, I just want you to be happy. That is all I want." A small smile broke on the older Prentiss' otherwise stoic face.

Emily got up from the couch and stepped forward, she reached her mother and wrapped her arms around Elizabeth's neck. "Thank you, mother. You have no idea how much this means to me. Thank you."

Elizabeth pulled her daughter close; "No. I should be the one thanking you for giving me yet another chance."

"We turned a page, mom."

JJ and Edward smiled when Emily said 'mom' to her mother, she had always used the word 'mother' it had been her way to distance herself from her mother since their relationship had always been so troubled.

They had talked for a while longer before they went home to relief Garcia of her babysitting duties. The blond tech was eager to hear what her friends had to say, but they flat out refused to say anything about the subject of their visit. The brunette just chuckled when she threatened to do a 'thing'. While they had included Garcia in their relationship early on they had decided to keep these secrets under-wraps a little longer. They wanted to figure everything out before telling anyone besides their parents about the house they were planning on buying. They knew that Garcia would drive them absolutely crazy with questions. Emily and JJ wanted to make sure that the choices they made were theirs alone.

* * *

JJ laid the last hand to the coffee she was preparing when Emily made her way towards the kitchen. "He's asleep, I had to read him two stories but he finally gave in to the sleep. He could barely keep his eyes open during the second story. I read him two stories from the book which Derek gave him last week. You know the 'big boys' story book."

"You did? Did he like it." JJ asked with a smile.

"Yes, he loved it! It took five minutes for him to get over the fact that this was a book for big boys." Emily replied, she chuckled; "You hadn't read him anything from that book?"

"No, I didn't get around to it. We were still reading his last book." The blond pushed a strand of hair behind her ear and smiled; "He loves being a big boy, doing big-boy stuff, I bet he will love being a big brother."

"Even if he and his brother or sister aren't actually related ... DNA-wise, I mean?" The brunette asked doubtfully, she bit her lip.

"Of course! You can't seriously doubt that, can you?" JJ asked a little bit taken aback by Emily's sudden question. The brunette didn't answer the question. Though it was obviously that she was serious, she really did doubt. The blond moved closer to the older woman, she stood right in front of her, grasped Emily's blouse with both of her hands and made sure that the older woman was looking straight at her; "Henry has 'adopted' you as his mama, he calls your parents - who he barely knows, I might add - grandma and grandpa. I don't think that he will ever doubt being a big brother to any child we bring into this family in whatever way. He won't mind because that is how we raise him."

Emily wanted to reply when the bell rang, which actually saved her from answering the very heavily loaded question. She smiled apologetically and disappeared into the hallway. She opened the door and greeted Sandra - the real estate agent, who had agreed to meet them after work. "Please come in." She smiled when she heard JJ approach; "Sandra, this is Jennifer Jareau."

The red head smiled and shook JJ's offered hand. "It's really nice to meet you Sandra. Thank you for agreeing to meet us."

"Sure, no problem. I've known the Prentiss family for many years." The real estate agent smiled; "Emily's parents and mine go way back, our parents are friends you might have seen them at the Christmas Charity Event. My mother told me all about that eventful night."

"That sure was eventful, but I don't know if I actually met your parents. Sorry." JJ answered with an apologetic smile.

"You've probably seen them, but don't worry about it that's not why we are here after all. It's really nice to meet you. I regretted not going to the Charity Event when my mother told me that Emily had a date. I think that really was the first time that she actually invited someone to come along, someone who wasn't forced upon her by her own mother." Sandra answered with a chuckle, she placed a hand on Emily's shoulder.

"Really, Emily?" JJ asked with a giddy smile; "I was your first?"

"Oh, Jennifer, I hate to break it to you but you certainly weren't her first." Sandra spoke with a serious face, before she smiled and continued; "However you were the first she actually asked to come with her. Elizabeth always made sure that there was a some boy and later on an appropriate man around to attend the Charity Event with her. She _always_ had a boy-toy on her arm, however usually they went home with me or someone else in our group of friends." The red head flipped her flaming locks over her shoulder and smiled at the memories; "I have to admit that Emily's boy-toys did more good for everyone else than for her. You should know that I actually married one of them."

"You did!" JJ chuckled loudly.

"Yes, I sure did. Someone had to appreciate those handsome and intelligent men even if Emily couldn't." Sandra disclosed.

The brunette rolled her eyes but smiled at the teasing which was taking place at her expense; "Right, why is it that every time you meet someone from my past you gang up on me with them. I should really cut all ties with my past. Let's go into the living room so you two can embrace me some more without waking Henry up." The brunette led the way to the living room and gestured to the couch. "I take it you still like coffee?"

"Like? Oh no! I live on it." Sandra laughed; "I wouldn't know how get through the day if I didn't have a vast amount of coffee in my system." The brunette left JJ and Sandra in the living room, she took out a tablet and placed the cups and coffee which JJ had been preparing on it along with a plate of cookies. She returned to the living room and rolled her eyes when she noticed the looks she got from both Sandra as well as JJ.

"Okay, here's your coffee ladies can we now please turn to the reason we invited you?" Emily answered eagerly.

"So tell me, what can I do for you?" Sandra said with a smile while she looked at the two women in front of her, one which she'd known for a long time and one she just met but already liked.

"We have decided that we want to buy a house together." Emily said while she took JJ's hand in her own; "Jayje and I want to find a house with at least five bedrooms in a good school district because Henry has to start school soon. Not too far from here."

"Five bedrooms? You only have one son, right?" The red head squinted her eyes at Emily and smiled.

"Yes, we do." Emily stated with certainty.

Sandra chuckled; "Anything I should know, is there a certain time limit before you need this house?" Sandra asked with a glint in her eyes and a smile on her face.

"See Emily, you are way too obvious with your five bedrooms!" JJ exclaimed while she swatted Emily's shoulder.

"Aw, you know what. I don't care, it's what we're working towards, isn't it?" Emily answered seriously.

JJ shrugged, she couldn't exactly deny the truth in that statement; "Yes, it is what we are working towards. But I beg you to not mention the five bedrooms if we want to keep our future plans under wraps a little longer. Please Sandra, don't tell your parents or Emily's parents for that matter." The blond begged the red head with a smile.

"The secret is save with me. Promise. I would love to help you two to find the perfect place. I never thought that this day would happen! Emily, I am so happy for you." Sandra herself had married one of Emily's so-called boy-toys years ago - one of the guys Elizabeth Prentiss had found as date for Emily on one of those Charity Events years ago. Elizabeth Prentiss' meddling had at least made one perfect couple with a couple of kids. Sandra's eyes fell on a picture across the room, one of Emily, JJ and Henry during barbecue last summer - when no one knew that they were actually a couple - at Rossi's Mansion. "Is that Henry?" She asked pointing at the picture.

JJ followed her line of sight; "Yes, that's Henry. He's almost four." The blond answered proudly.

Sandra got up and made her way over to the picture. "Oh my God, he's so cute! He looks just like you, Jennifer."

"What did you expect with a kick ass mom like Jayje - she's an FBI agent as well - Will's DNA had no chance." Emily answered with a grin, it was a thought which often crossed her mind when she saw Henry and Will together. Henry looked nothing like Will, he looked one hundred percent like his mother - it became even more obvious when she'd seen pictures of a younger JJ - and Amy - at her parents house.

"Oh, you two choose a known donor? That's a brave decision." Sandra assumed while she made her way back to the chair she'd been sitting in before.

JJ smiled while she watched Emily's reaction to the situation. They could leave it like this and just let Sandra assume or she could set this straight immediately; "Actually we didn't. I was still with Will when I had Henry, Emily and I got together about a year ago."

"Oh, wow. Sorry, I'm so sorry, I shouldn't just assume things like that." Sandra apologized while her face flushed a darker shade of red.

"Given the information you have about us right now it really isn't that strange that you assumed that we used a donor." JJ reasoned with the red head.

The other woman shrugged; "Well, I shouldn't just assume. It's not the first time assuming something gets me in trouble. I'm pretty sure that Emily can tell you a couple of very embarrassing examples."

"You better believe it. I could tell Jennifer about that time were you avoided me at all cost because you believed that I told you that I loved you because I told you that I was gay ... She assumed that if I liked women I must really love her." Emily answered with a grin; "I told her because we were good friends at the time, not because I loved her and admitting that I was gay certainly wasn't a declaration of love."

Sandra threw up her hands; "I admit it, I was really full of myself back then and I thought that I was God's gift to men, and apparently also to women because one of my best friends told me that she was gay. God! I was naive back then!" Sandra admitted, her face once again turned a dark shade of red. The three women all laughed at Sandra's comment about her younger self. "I was really thought that I was something special ... Can we please get back to the house with the five bedrooms?"

"Yes, the five bedrooms, we would like to have a small room for an office space. Like we said we both work for the FBI and we sometimes bring our work home. We need to make sure that we keep that stuff away from Henry. It doesn't have to be big. Three bedrooms and a guest bedroom. I would really like to have a large kitchen area, bigger than this one." Emily laid down her wishes to which JJ agreed wholeheartedly.

"And a yard, a house without a yard is unacceptable. I want a yard big enough for the kids to roughhouse in and it has to have an area where we can chill out, maybe have a cook-out ... a pool?" JJ added more as a question than an actual request.

Emily smiled; "A pool sounds perfect but then there has to be an option to fence it off. I'm not willing to take a risk."

Sandra watched the interaction between the two women with a warm smile. "We need a garage ... just look at all the crap we have stored in my garage." JJ explained.

Sandra jotted down a couple of words and picked up her bag. She placed it on her lap and started to pull out a couple of files. "As it has been made so obvious I know Emily and from talking to her when she sold her apartment I know that you and Henry mean the world to her. So I took it upon myself to look around and find something that might be your perfect place, or at least three places which might be ..." She placed the folders on the coffee table, front views of the houses where on each front page of the three folders.

"Oh, my God!" JJ whispered under her breath while she reached her hand out to one of the folders but before her hand could reach it's destination she collided with Emily's hand. They held their hands above the folder while they watch one another before they started to chuckle.

"Okay, you two are obviously on the same page. Should I start calling or would you like to see the other houses as well?" The red head across the coffee table chuckled while she watched the interaction between the two women.

Emily smiled; "You obviously still know me, this looks perfect. The other two houses look nice as well but this ... this honestly looks perfect." Emily flipped the page and started to read the first page of the folder which gave them some specifications on the house. "And it just keeps getting better and better, a cul-de-sac? I always wanted to live in a nice family home at the end of a cul-de-sac with my family."The brunette said while she looked at JJ with a look of utter love in her eyes.

"I really like what I see here, honestly like doesn't even begin to cover it."

"Me too, I really want to see this house."

"Okay, sounds great, I'll make the call first thing tomorrow morning to see if you two can see the house as soon as possible. When would be the best time for the two of you?" Sandra inquired while she picked up her pen.

JJ was the first to answer; "We really want to see this one ... I mean just look at it. I can't believe that it hasn't been sold yet. However the problem is that we don't know where we are tomorrow. If our team catches a case tomorrow morning we could easily be on the other end of the country before it's noon."

Emily placed her hand on JJ's arm - successfully silencing her partner - before she started to talk; "Make an appointment as soon as possible. If push comes to shove and we have to go on a case I want you to make really clear that we want the house and if you have to make an offer - within reason - make one they can't refuse and make sure that we can see the house as soon as we get back."

"Emily!"

"No honey, it's alright. We've hardly given these other folders a second glance we're both in love with what we see here. I really don't want to loose this chance." The brunette leaned in and kissed the younger woman. "This house looks perfect to me, perfect for our family. I really want to see it, I have a really good feeling about this. Besides if this doesn't turn out to be our perfect home we'll keep looking until we find it."

JJ reached her hand up and stroked Emily's cheek, she leaned in and kissed the older woman; "Sounds like a plan. I love you, Emily."

"Love you too, Jennifer." The brunette replied before she turned her attention to the woman on the other side of the coffee table. Who was still sitting in silence with a huge smile on her face. "What?" Emily asked with a raised brow.

"It's good to see you this way. I'm so happy for you." The red head probably never would have believed this side of Emily even existed if she hadn't seen with her own two eyes. She could only be happy for the brunette because by the looks of it she'd truly found the perfect woman in Jennifer.

"Thank you, but it's all thanks to Jennifer and Henry - I wouldn't be this person without them." It was only fair to give credit when it was needed. JJ smiled and leaned in to kiss Emily, no words were needed to be said between them.

"Well whatever it is, don't change a thing." Sandra replied with a smile. She picked up her bag and started to stow her files back inside, except for the one which both Emily and Jennifer were interested in.

"So ehm ... Sandra, how is your family?"

"Well you know James, he's such a macho man ... but he melts when he sees the kids. Especially when he's with Ava, she's five and is very strong willed. I try not to give into everything she wants but one look at him with those big blue eyes and he just gives in immediately." Sandra smiled happily, the whole business exterior was dropped the second she started to talk about her family; "Sebastian is different, he's quieter but he's really into sports which James loves. He's been planning to take Sebastian with him to a game this year. Sebastian hasn't stopped talking about it, it's so cute. Wait, let me show you some pictures, they were so little when you last saw them." She slipped her phone from her bag and showed them the latest pictures of her kids an husband. They made a cute family, the four of them. Emily couldn't stop herself but show off some pictures as well.

They continued talking for a while until Sandra suddenly realized how late it was. She quickly gathered her belongings and promised to call them as soon as she knew more about the house.

As promised Sandra had called them early the next day to tell them that they could view the house on Saturday. The two of them were excited but tried to hide it from their co-workers. They weren't yet ready to tell them about their plans, besides they didn't want to jinx anything. both of them were crossing their fingers hoping that they wouldn't get a case because they were both eager to see the house which they might call their home in the near future.

* * *

That Saturday JJ woke up, the sun was already peaking into their room and it promised to be a beautiful day. She turned on her side and watched Emily, she pushed herself up on one arm and checked the clock on Emily's bedside table. A quick calculation told her that she had some time to spare, both before they had to get up and get ready and before the viewing.

The blond stretched out her hand, she lightly touched the exposed skin of Emily's belly where her tank top shifted upward in her sleep, the blond smiled and caressing the exposed skin gently. She couldn't help it, her mind flashed forward into the future. Imagining one possible future, she saw a different house, an older Henry running around the yard after a ball. She envisioned herself sitting on a back porch in the sun while she watched her son kick against the ball. A door behind her opened, and JJ looked over her shoulder. She smiled, a visibly pregnant Emily made her way down the steps and sat down next to her. She couldn't stop smiling, she stretched her hand out and gently touched Emily's protruding stomach. The brunette smiled and changed the position of JJ's hand a little more to the left. JJ smiled when she could feel the obvious kicks of their baby against the inside of her hand.

What the blond hadn't notice was that Emily had woken up while she was daydreaming. She actually startled when the brunette suddenly moved; "What's with that goofy smile?"

"Geesh Em!" Jennifer exclaimed.

A cheeky grin was visible on Emily's face while she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes; "That's not an answer to my question."

The blond had pulled her hand back from Emily's stomach as if she had burned herself; "What was the question?" She tried to ask casually but failed miserably - and she knew it.

"What's with the goofy smile?" Emily repeated her earlier question.

"Nothing. Just thinking."

"Thinking about what?" She enquired, she wasn't going to let this go. She wanted to know the answer.

"The future. Our future ... together."

"Hmmm, sounds good. What did you see?"

"Nothing special." JJ tried to sell her answer but she could barely keep herself from laughing.

"Right, you do know that you share your bed with a federal agent - a profiler no less. There is no way that you actually believe that you can sell that 'nothing' to me. No way." Emily replied with a smile; "What was it you were envisioning? Judging by the goofy smile on your face I imagine it must have been something good."

"Ehm ... no, probably not." JJ admitted; "I was just hoping against better knowing that it would stop you from demanding an answer." JJ replied with a good natured smile; "Promise me you won't laugh?" The brunette smiled and nodded her head. JJ breathed in deeply before she started to talk; "Okay, I was thinking about the home we're going to visit today and I kinda imagined a possible future. I saw Henry, bigger, older and faster, better at soccer. He was playing in the backyard. I was sitting on the porch watching him, the door opened and you stepped outside ..."

"Okay, so far so good ... I like that possible future. Though it doesn't explain the goofy grin you had on your face."

"You were ... you were visibly pregnant." The blond smiled; "You looked so good, beautiful you were glowing as they say."

Emily laughed, she was teasing JJ. "Well, that certainly explains the goofy smile ... I can see it shimmering through again." She teased the younger woman who's cheeks turned a nice shade of pink.

"Yeah, well ehm ... I have to get Henry ready." The blond quickly moved away and out of the bed. Emily quickly moved and grabbed a hold of JJ's hand.

"Jennifer common', where are you going?" The brunette gently pulled the blond back onto the bed and kissed her soundly. "I'm just teasing you, that's all."

"We have to be at the house at ten thirty." JJ replied between kisses.

"I know. And we'll be there on time, I just need you to know that you can tell me anything. It doesn't matter what it is. I guess I have a confession to make as well."

"Is it something as embarrassing as what I just confessed?" The blond asked a little too eager.

"Don't sound so eager. Right now - in hindsight, in our current situation - it's not so embarrassing any more but at the time I was feeling really uncomfortable. I always thought that you were beautiful, but when you were pregnant I thought that you were even more beautiful than you usually are. Don't ask me why, I just thought that you looked stunning. So don't worry about something that you envisioned, something you which you hope might be happening in the future." The brunette smiled with a mischievous grin. "I was actually jealous of Reid."

"Reid? Why?"

"Because you freaked him out."

"Freaked him out! I did no such thing."

"Yes, you did. You grabbed his hand and pushed it against your belly and _it _ kicked. You freaked him out!" Emily smiled at the memory; "Reid came to me afterwards because he needed to talk to someone about it and apparently I was the most obvious choice because you obviously didn't understand why it freaked him out. And neither would Garcia. And touching your baby bump is not really something he would discuss with any of the guys so he came to me. And I have to admit that I was kind of jealous." The brunette admitted.

JJ moved closer towards Emily and kissed her. "I love you."

"I love you too. How about we save some water by taking a quick shower together?"

"Right, save water by taking a quick shower together. You do know that 'quick' and 'shower together' do not fit in one sentence?"

"Hmm... we somehow gonna have to make it work." Emily answered with a smirk. She got up and ushered to the blond to follow her into their en-suite bath room. The blond smiled and followed the other woman quickly.

They got out of the shower relatively quickly and got ready as fast as they could; "Are we going to bring Henry with us or are we going to drop him off at Garcia's?"

"He's coming with us, I didn't talk to Pen about this. Why wouldn't he come with us?"

Emily shrugged; "It might be boring for him." She stated while she pulled on a pair of jeans.

"Yeah, well not everything in life is fun and games. It's not bad for him to get a little bored, though I really doubt if that will happen. I mean it's a new place to explore for him and we might be able to gauge his reaction to the house. He'll see it as an adventure I'm sure."

"Okay, maybe we can go to the park later, it looks like it's going to be a beautiful sunny afternoon."

"Let's just get to this house viewing first and we'll see if we go to the park or not." JJ answered a little more rational than Emily was, before she switched on the hair dryer. Emily smiled - an obvious sign that the conversation had ended - she quickly left the room to get Henry ready for their _big adventure_.

Emily kissed a - fake sleeping - Henry on his cheek, the little boy tried to move away and crawl deeper under his comforter but Emily stopped that from happening. "Eewww! Mama your hair is wet!"

"Oh I know, it's because your mommy's using the hair dryer and I have to get you dressed because we are going on an adventure. So what would you like to wear?" Emily asked while she opened the closet. Henry jumped off of his bed and joined her, he stepped forward and pulled a bright green sweater from one of the stacks. Emily quickly grabbed the rest of the pile which almost fell out of the closet as well. "The monster hoodie?" Emily asked with a smirk - referring to the funny monster print on the front of the sweater. Henry nodded his head, his long blond hair falling across his face. He started to pull the sweater over his head, but Emily quickly stopped him; "How about we first take off you pj's and then we pull the sweater on? Sounds like a good idea?"

Henry grinned and started to pull his pj's off while Emily gathered the rest of his clothing for the day. "Mama, what's the adventure?"

"I don't think I can tell you that, it's a secret ... you just have to come with us." The brunette whispered loudly.

"Mama, you're really not telling me?" Henry clasps his hands together and looks up at her with those adorable big blue eyes; "Please, mama, please tell me?" He begs her and if it hadn't been for JJ - who entered the room - he might have just succeeded.

"Hey buddy, how about we go downstairs and have breakfast before we go on our adventure?" JJ asked Henry right before she picked him up and ruffled his hair. Henry wrapped his arms around his mother's neck and kissed her, JJ smiled and kissed him back; "Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah! But mama woke me up, and her hair was wet and cold!"

"I bet that wasn't really a nice way to wake up."

"No, but it's your fault!" Henry exclaimed while he pointed at his mother.

JJ put Henry back on his feet and ushered him to follow her; "My fault? I wasn't even here. How can it be my fault?"

"Mama says that you wouldn't let her use the hair dryer so she had to wake me up and her cold wet hair was all in my face."

"Right. Yeah, that explains why it is my fault." JJ smiled; "How about cocopops?"

"Yes!" Henry exclaimed happily.

"Make that two!" Emily joined Henry in his excitement and sat down on the chair next to Henry. JJ couldn't help but chuckle while she prepared three bowls of cocopops and coffee. As soon as she placed the bowls in front of Henry and Emily the two dug in. JJ rolled her eyes and waited for the coffee to finish, she needed coffee before she could really start her day. Breakfast didn't take long and they had actually managed to get out of the house earlier than expected.

They had just left the street when Henry started asking them if they were almost there. Emily and JJ both rolled their eyes but smiled; "It's going to take a while."

"How long is a while?" Henry asked.

"Ehm ... that is a good question, how long is a while, Emily?" JJ asked with a grin, shoving the question easily over to Emily.

Emily stopped at a traffic light and bit her lip; "Well, let me think we are going to drive for a while. From our home almost all the way to the FBI, almost as far so in this case a while is a little shorter than the drive to work."

"And that's when the adventure begins?" Henry asked eagerly.

"It sure is. Excited?" Emily asked while she watched Henry in the rear view mirror.

"Yeah!" The little boy answered with a smile from the back seat. "Are we going to eat ice cream?"

"Would you call eating ice cream an adventure?" JJ inquired.

"YES!" Henry exclaimed with glee.

"Dumb question ..." JJ mumbled under her breath, before she answered her son; "Maybe eating ice cream is going be part of the adventure. I am not sure. I guess we'll have to wait and see."

Emily listened to the conversation JJ and Henry had for a while, he was trying to figure out what this so-called adventure was by literally asking every question that came to mind. She checked the navigation and noticed that they were getting close to the house. "We're almost there." She announced happily while she turned into the street that would lead them to the cul-de-sac.

JJ smiled at Emily before she quickly watched the houses go by, she was eagerly awaiting the first view of their possible future home. Emily rounded the last corner and they were finally able to see the first view. Emily slowed the car down. The house was right in front of them, across the entrance of the cul-de-sac. She stared at the house in awe, if the inside of the home was just as promising as the outside than she wanted to live here.

Sandra's car was already parked on the driveway and the red headed woman was leaning against the car. She pushed her sunglasses up in her hair and waved at them. Emily and JJ waved back, Emily parked their car behind Sandra's car and cut the engine. But instead of getting out of the car she sat there staring at the greyish European style house. A beautiful, obviously landscaped garden was placed alongside the front of the home. JJ wanted to move out of the car when she noticed that Emily was still sitting in the car motionless. "Honey, are you ready to take a look?"

"What?"

"Are you ready to take a look, babe?" JJ asked with a smile.

The brunette smiled; "Oh, ehm ... yeah sure. Of course. I was just ... it's really beautiful." She added in a whisper.

"I know, I think so too. Come on, get out of the car, I want to see the rest of the home but not without you."

"Is this the adventure?" Henry suddenly asked from the back seat; "Are we meeting someone?"

"Yes, we kind of are meeting someone."

"But you said twas an adventure." Henry replied with a pout.

"It is, I promise. You'll see." Emily answered with a smile while she turned in her seat to look at Henry. "Let's get out of the car and figure out what the adventure is." Emily leaned over the center console, she kissed JJ before she opened her door. The blond smiled and pushed her door open as well. Emily made her way over to Sandra and greeted her while JJ helped Henry out of his car seat.

Henry grabbed his mother's hand while they walked over to Emily and Sandra. The red headed woman got down to his level and smiled at him; "You must be Henry? I heard a lot about you." She spoke softly with a smile while she held out her hand for him to shake. Henry instinctively moved closer to JJ but takes Sandra's hand anyway. "I'm Sandra."

"Okay buddy, want to know why we're here?" Emily asked Henry, who eagerly nodded his head.

"Your mommy and I have been talking and we we're thinking that it would be a really cool adventure if we look for a different house to live in."

"Like daddy?"

"Yes, like daddy."

"But I like my room!"

"Well, you can take all of your things with you and we can decorate your room any way you like."

"Promise?"

Emily pulled Henry closer to her, she stared him straight in the face; "I promise, Henry. So are you ready to go on this adventure?"

"Okay." Henry answered in a stage whispered.

"Common' let's go see if we might like this place. I know it has a big garden and maybe some other surprises." The brunette answered while she got up and held her hand out to Henry, who took it. She made her way towards the front door of the home, with Henry skipping next to her. They stopped at the door - only to find that JJ and Sandra were still standing at the cars watching them. A proud smile was on JJ's face while she laughed and nodded at something Sandra said to her.

"Hurry up! I want to see the surprises!" Henry called out to his mother. Sandra and JJ erupted in laughter and quickly joined Emily and Henry at the front door.

"Okay, are you ready to see what might be your future home?" Sandra asked with a smile at the three people in front of her while she fumbled with the keys. Sandra stepped forward onto the covered front porch and reached the dark green door. She opened the door and allowed them to step inside, for the first time they were able to see what the inside of the house looked like. Even though the house was as good as empty it already looked like a home, a warm family oriented home. JJ and Emily shared a look, one that spoke volumes.

"Hey! It's all empty!" Henry screamed while he let go of Emily's hand and stepped forward into the great room which was placed straight ahead from the front door. His voice echoed through the house and all three of the women smiled; "That is because the people who lived here have already moved to a new place and now families like ours can take a look and see if we would like to live here." JJ replied to Henry's exclamation while she followed him into the great room. Emily stepped forward as well but she stopped and turned around towards Sandra who was still standing at the open door with her leather binder in her arms.

"Go look, I'll be in the kitchen if you need me." Sandra smiled; "I like the families who look at houses to look at them as a family, discus what they think and so on without me interrupting. And if you have questions you can ask me any time, I'll just be a the breakfast bar in the kitchen.

Emily thanked Sandra and followed JJ and Henry into the great room. She was in awe, the hard wood floors looked absolutely stunning, definitely something they wouldn't have to change. The large windows on the other side of the room allowed the light of the March sun to stream into the room and warm it up. On her right hand were the stairs to the second floor while on the left she could see another hallway which led to two of the bedrooms. She smiled when she saw JJ and Henry standing at the window, it didn't take her long to get too the other side of the room, she wrapped her arms around JJ from behind and leaned her chin on the blonds shoulder. "This feels right, I love it." She declared with a smile.

"Look! It's a pool." Henry called out, he banged on the window and pointed at the covered pool outside. He left quite a few hand prints on the window before JJ could stop him.

"Why yes, it certainly is." JJ answered with a smile.

"Sandra's staying in the kitchen, she wants us to look at everything as a family so we can discus things in private before we talk to her." Emily smiled; "If we have any questions we can ask her of course."

"I really like that idea." JJ admitted, she kissed the brunette with passion; "Let's go take a look around."

"I wanna see the pool!" Henry cried out.

"No, we look at the house first, the pool comes later." Henry's answer came in a pout.

"Hey, no pouting. This is an adventure, you've already seen the pool imagine what other secrets there might be hidden in this house." Emily coaxed with a smile.

Henry's cheeky smile made and reappearance right before he dashed off into the hallway which led to the bedrooms on the ground level. "You better hope there are more secrets to explore for him." JJ chuckled while she grabbed a hold of Emily's hand and pulled her with her towards the bedrooms on the ground level.

"Fingers crossed." Was all she said. They first made their way into the bedroom on their right which was the master bedroom. A good sized room with it's own master bathroom, offering the privacy a couple might want to have sometimes. Emily smiled at the view of the large cream coloured bathroom with a large circular bath and a glass walled shower stall. "I like this ... a lot."

"Are we being biased or did we really just find the perfect home?"

"It almost seems too perfect ... let's first see what the rest of the house is like." The brunette suggested, she was trying to stay objective and not let her love at first sight for the house blind her judgement but it was pretty difficult. Henry had already moved on to the next place, he probably thought that they were taking way too long looking at an empty room but at least he was occupied. They walked back down the hallway to find a smaller bathroom and a bedroom which would be ideal for a new addition to their family. One look at one another and they both knew what the other was thinking. They shared another kiss before they moved on to the next part of the house which was the dining room, they had already seen this room when they first set foot into the house since it was immediately on the right hand side of the hallway. The door on the other side of the room led them into the kitchen and another hallway with access to the utilities room and the two car garage.

"Lets go and see the upstairs." JJ answered when they had seen most of the downstairs area except for the kitchen. Emily nodded with a smile. They made their way back to the stairs and called out to Henry, who they hadn't seen since they left the bedroom. He appeared at the top of the stairs with a grin on his face before he quickly disappeared into a room at the right side of the stairs.

Emily and JJ followed Henry upstairs, there were two bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs and a small overlook into the living room. They were standing in the bedroom at the back of the house overlooking the garden when JJ was no longer able to hide her excitement. "I love everything about this place ... everything. Can we really call this our perfect home if we haven't seen what else is out there?" She felt insecure about the situation. Was this really a smart move to make.

"Mommy, the pool is out therel!" Henry stated, with a serious frown on his face, bringing once again the pool back to their attention.

"Yes, we know. Mama and I need to talk about a couple of things." JJ told Henry - who sighed deeply.

"Henry, what do you think about this house? Do you like it?" Emily suddenly asked the boy, she surprised JJ with that question.

"I like the pool!" Both adults tried to stop the roll of their eyes at their sons comment.

"But you don't know how to swim!" The brunette exclaimed with a smile.

"I can learn!" Henry stated matter of factually.

"Yes, you certainly can." There was not much else which could be said to a statement like that.

"That pool needs to have a fence around it, one that Henry can't climb over. I am not taking any chances on this subject."

"Certainly. Absolutely. The first thing we take care of." Emily agreed. "If this is the house we want to make our home." She added with a smile.

"I think that we both know the answer to that question, don't we?"


	49. Chapter 49

**AN: It make sense, in my mind it does at least. I've read through it a couple of times ... and to me it makes sense, I just hope that you get what I'm trying to say/do here. Thanks for sticking with me. I know it's a slow process but in turn these chapters are huge ... well I started with thousand word chapters and now it 8000 words. **

**Chapter 49**

They had talked about it for a while - outside on the back porch of the house - even though it was not really a discussion they needed to have. It was more than obvious that they both wanted the house, they wanted to be able to call it their home in the near future. They could both imagine their little family living there. That much had been more than obvious. Henry - after his first worries about liking his room the way it was - seemed enthusiast as well, especially about the swimming pool and the huge backyard. They had talked about five bedrooms and this house only had four. They had decided that the guest bedroom and an office space could be combined. After all the guest bedroom would only be used if JJ's parents or one of their friends stayed at their home. An office was something they wanted to make sure that if they brought work home that they could keep it away from Henry.

Emily and JJ called Henry - who had been exploring the backyard - and had met with Sandra in the kitchen. The red head already knew what their answer was, she had seen it in their eyes and with a smile she told them that she would call the home-owner with their offer first thing Monday morning. All they had to do was agree on the offer they wanted to place.

After their visit to the house they had taken Henry to the park and bought ice cream to celebrate because both agreed that this was cause for a small celebration. The real celebration would happen once they actually got the home.

Buying a house was not something to take lightly, and the responsibility and realization of what they were about to do were weighing JJ down. It wasn't that she doubted her relationship with Emily, not at all. The first time she bought a house it had been her decision and hers alone, she had made sure that she could afford the financial responsibility. When Will came to DC he'd just moved in with her. The house had been big enough and since she was pregnant moving had seemed like too much of a hassle at the time. Since she had never really seen a bright future for their relationship they had never really talked about moving somewhere else. Something which she had been very grateful for when they broke up, since it had been obvious that Will would be the one to move out. She had a roof over her head, it had never been something she never had to worry about. But now she was planning to move into a house which for the most part would be paid by Prentiss' trust fund money. And she really couldn't help but feel a little worried about that. Her relationship with Emily was strong and very stable but at one time her relationship with Will had been strong as well. She couldn't help but hear the objections Elizabeth Prentiss had nagging in the back of her mind. Which only added to the pending freak out about the situation. Part of her couldn't believe how insecure she suddenly felt, while the other part could only agree with the nagging voice of her inner conscience. Was she ready to hand over part of her independence ... because that certainly was what it felt like. She couldn't see into the future, she didn't know what was going to happen around the next bend in the road.

She sighed and looked out of the window, she had been sitting on the couch for a while with a book resting in her lap but so far. The blond had tried to read, hoping that it would get her mind off of things. She hadn't been able to read more than a single line and honestly she didn't even have an inkling what that single line was about. She placed the book on the coffee table and averted her eyes, a weak March sun was trying to break through the deck of clouds one last time before it lost it's battle to the darkness of the pending evening. The media liaison knew that Emily was aware of her internal struggle, she had opted to keep Henry occupied with all kinds of games so that she would have some time to get her thoughts in order. So far it hadn't really helped, she was still struggling just as much as she had been a couple of hours ago.

Henry and Emily were playing a game on the floor in the middle of the room. As soon as the game ends it's time for Henry to go to bed and the brunette urges him to say good night while she helps him get ready for bed. JJ smiles at the older woman, a thankful smile knowing that the brunette is giving her a chance to gather her thoughts. It's obvious that there is something they need to talk about but the profiler is not pushing her. JJ promises to follow Emily and Henry upstairs in a couple of minutes to say goodnight to him and watches as they go upstairs. Emily's walking behind Henry making sure that he won't slip on the stairs and fall, not that he really needed it. He was after all old enough to get up the stairs by himself but JJ loved this caring side of Emily. At the top of the stairs just before he moves out of sight he turns around and waves at JJ through the banister. The blond smiles and waves back at her son, who jumps up the last couple of steps with a loud giggle. It's a mere couple of minutes later when she pushes herself off the couch and checks the locks and closes the curtains. The weather had been grey and almost stormy, hence the darkness was setting quickly.

She made her way upstairs and leaned against the door jab while she listened to Emily and Henry talking for a couple of minutes before she made herself known. She kneels down next to the bed and hugs Henry, the little boy reaches his hand up and pulls Emily into the hug as well. They all ended up giggling before they let go of each other.

The adults left the room, JJ headed into their bed room. She wasn't sure why but she felt more comfortable in there. She sat down on the bed and waited for Emily to follow her, it took a mere couple of seconds for the brunette to close the bedroom door and sit down next to her. The brunette turned around and watched her, JJ could Emily's eyes resting on her.

"Okay, start talking. I have been able to hear the cogs turning in your head all evening. What's going on, honey?" She asked, gently pushing the blond to answer her, she reached her hand out and pushed a strand of golden hair behind JJ's ear.

JJ bit her lip, a tell tale sign that she was nervous voicing what was bothering her. She was silent for a minute before she started to talk while she looked down at her hands. "Can I do this?"

"Can you do what? You need to be a little bit more detailed if you're looking for an answer."

"Can I do this, rely on your money to pay for the house. I mean, I know that you don't mind but I also understand your parents objections." The blond flipped her hair over her shoulder; "They do have a point, you can't deny that."

"First of all, those are my mother's objections ... mostly. My father, he sees how much I love you - and that you love for me is honest - which is why he's been trying to smooth things over with my mother. He might not do it in front of us - at least not that much but believe me when I tell you that they have had many, many talks about us, about our situation - I know that he's been talking to her." Emily explained with certainty; "I do know that they have my best interest at heart. Jennifer, I don't worry about that, I know that I can trust you."

The blond smiled and kissed the brunette; "You can trust me." She claimed with just as much certainty and honesty. "I love you."

"I love you too, with all my heart." The brunette smiled; "I would love to say something to ease your mind but I don't think that there is something I can say that would make you feel better. This is something you have to be alright with. Like I said my lawyer is adding you name to my accounts making my money our money. I know that my parents think that it's not a wise decision, but this conversation shows me that it is."

"Promise me though ... If we sell this place I want to put this money back into the account from which we are paying for the new house." She looked straight at Emily, she wanted her to know that she was serious.

"If that is what you want to do then that is what we'll do." The profiler promised with a smile; "Promise me that you don't worry about the money. I don't want that to stand between us, ever."

"It won't if we don't let it. Though you might have to try and see things from my position every once in a while, because I am certainly not used to this."

"Jennifer, I know we made an offer on the home because we both love it so much. If you don't feel comfortable - because of the money it costs - we can stop the process." The brunette offers, she would think it was a shame though she could understand JJ's trepidation. "I can call Sandra if you want?"

"No, no don't. We both want this. It's perfect, it would be a shame if we let it go." JJ replied; "I'm just worrying myself, probably over nothing. I'll be fine."

"Jennifer, I don't want you to do anything you're not comfortable with and if my money makes you uncomfortable then I honestly don't want it." The honesty in Emily's eyes brought tears to JJ's blue orbs.

"You would really do that? For me?"

"Anything for you and Henry. Anything."

"No, no. You're heritage and Prentiss' responsibilities are part of you just like Henry's part of my life. You accepted him - without question."

"Of course I did. I love Henry, he's given me so much joy in return."

"Emily, I want the house, I want the house and make it our home." The blond leaned closer into the brunette, who opened her arms and kissed the top of her head.

Emily was sitting at her desk inside the BAU looking at the stack of files on her desk. A couple of them on her right were done, the ones on her left were the ones she still had to go through. She pushed herself up, she collected the folders on her right and made her way up the stairs. She leaned against the door jab, a smile played on her lips while she watched JJ who was on the phone. A concentrated frown was on her face while she explained the procedures to the person on the other side of the line. Something which she'd done before by the looks of it, while JJ's tone of voice remained professional she wasn't able to hide roll of her eyes when she noticed Emily leaning against the door jab.

Emily stepped into the office, closed the door and took a seat on the couch - where she patiently waited for JJ to finish her call. When JJ finally did she sighed deeply and rubs her temples; "That was the fourth time I explained to him that he needs to follow protocol before we can meet him. I have already explained to him four times that he has to get his superiors to invite us in. The case he mailed me is pretty vague, not really something we can work with ... not yet anyway. I have already ask Rossi to review the case for me." It was obvious that the blond was frustrated by the call.

However before Emily could reply she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. She pulled it out of her pocket and smiled when she noticed the name on her caller ID. "Sandra, you're calling at the perfect time we are both here. Let me put you on speaker."

"Hi Sandra!" JJ exclaimed her eagerness to hear any news about the house had lifted her mood in a split second. The blond dropped down on the couch next to Emily and smiled at her.

"Hi Jennifer, Emily. I called the owner with the offer you made and they talked it over. I received a call just a few minutes ago."

"And? Did they accept it?" JJ asked - she was absolutely unable to keep her excitement at bay. Emily smiled at JJ's eagerness which was so different from the woman she had looked at a minute ago.

"Well ... they took their time, but they accepted the offer! The house is yours! All we have to do is get the financial side of it all but I trust that won't be a problem. That could all be handled during this week and you can have your keys early next week." Sandra explained to them.

"Oh my God! Em! We got the house!" JJ exclaimed loudly, while she fell into Emily's arms.

Emily chuckled at the excitement which JJ was displaying; "Sandra, thank you for this amazing news, would it be okay if I call you today after work to make an appointment with you regarding the financial stuff?"

"Yes, of course. No problem. Ladies, it's a pleasure doing business with you, I'll talk to you tonight." Sandra ended the call and Emily wrapped her arms around JJ.

"It's ours ... I can hardly belief it!"

"Me neither. I love you, Emily."

"Love you too."

"That house truly is a dream house ... it'll be our home." She spoke softly, her words were only meant for Emily to hear; "I've never felt this sure about anything in my life, even if I've been worried about the money. I love you and I trust you with my life, with my sons life."

"Thank you." Emily spoke with tears in her eyes; "It means a lot that you say that."

JJ shrugged; "I shouldn't worry so much, especially about things that have a positive influence on my life." The blond was no longer able to hide the smile, she leaned in and kissed Emily passionately.

"By the way, I think that we have some explaining to do. The only reason no one burst in here now is because they know that we're a couple now. I'm pretty sure that door would have been slammed into the wall if that wasn't the case."

JJ's face turned a darker shade of red; "Yeah, I guess I exclaimed my happiness a little too loudly."

"I guess you did." Emily shrugged; "It doesn't matter. I have made a file with the pictures of the house which Sandra send me so we can show them to the team. I mean there is no way that we can get away with not giving them any details ... well the other's wouldn't mind but Garcia would be less easy to please if we don't give her something ... you know she might threaten to do a thing or two." The brunette added with a grin; "I'll see if I can get Pen to leave her lair for a couple of minutes." Emily leaned in, she gave JJ one last kiss before she left the room. Though Reid and Derek tried to look occupied they failed miserably, the brunette smiled at them and quickly walked past them.

She knocked on the door which was slightly ajar and stepped inside; "Pen, we need you at the round table room."

"What are you saying Em, do we have a new case? I really hope not, I got a hot date to get to after work." A huge grin played on the blond's face, while her hand made wild gestures in the air with one of her trademark feathery hot pink pens.

"Don't panic, it's not case related so you'll be able to go home on time for your hot date." Emily told the blond with a smile, while she turned around. She opened the door and waited for the tech to exit her office before she followed her. The rest of the team was already waiting in the round table room when Emily and Garcia arrived. Rossi was leaning against the wall on the opposite side of the room, while Reid and Derek had already taken a seat.

Garcia stepped into the room, giving everyone a questioning look but each and every one of them gave her a shrug. Hotch was the last to arrive; "I only have a couple of minutes before my meeting with Strauss." He excused himself while he quickly sat down and looked up at JJ expectantly.

The blond stepped forward and nervously cleared her throat - after which she felt quite ridiculous because she was the media liaison and talking was her thing. "Emily and I ..." She turned around and grabbed a hold of Emily's hand; "have something to tell you."

Garcia let out a high pitched squeal and clasped her hands together. The blond tech was barely able to keep her excitement from bubbling over, though somehow she managed to stay relatively quiet.

JJ smiled; "Emily and I just received confirmation that our offer on our dream house was accepted by the owners of the house."

"A house! You bought a house!" The tech exclaimed loudly, she jumped up and reached them in a split second. Emily and JJ would have been tackled if they hadn't expected something like this to happen so instead they caught the other woman and hugged her back. "Oh my God! This is so awesome! When can we see it, when will you move! What does Henry think does he like the idea of moving?" Questions were fired at them one after another, without any room for answers. "Where is it? What does it look like?"

"Garcia!" Hotch reprimanded while he threw a stern look in the techs direction.

The calling of her name was enough to stop the woman from coming up with any more questions, at least for the time being.

She quickly got back in her seat and asked Emily and JJ to proceed. This time it was Emily who spoke up; "Jayje and I found a beautiful house closer to work, in a very child friendly environment with good schools. which is important for Henry."

"But how! You never told me you were looking for a house!" Garcia exclaimed again,

"Garcia?" Hotch warned again, in a tone of voice he would usually reserve for Jack - when he didn't listen. But every once in a while he would use it on Garcia - and he must admit it worked perfectly.

"Indeed, we didn't tell anyone besides our parents ... however we never thought that we would find a house this fast. I sold my apartment and I asked Sandra my real estate agent to see if she could find a house for us."

"I wasn't sure at first, one part of me wanted to move so we can have our own house, a family home. On the other hand however the house that we live in has a lot of memories. It's the house I moved to when I finally left my crappy apartment behind when I first started making money. It's the house Will and I lived in, the house in which we brought Henry home from the hospital. And the house in which Emily and I have been living together these past couple of months." The blond admitted with a smile - this was her family after all - she could and wanted to be open with them.

"Sandra came over to our house just last week to talk, explain everything to us and she had a couple of houses for us to look at. We fell in love the second we laid eyes on this particular house. And the moment we actually stood in front of it we were already sold. Sandra tried to get us to see different homes but we knew that this was it." JJ added.

"Pictures!" Garcia exclaimed in a very loud stage whisper, her eyes shifted towards Hotch and she quickly looked away. Derek smirked and leaned closer to the tech, he listened to her loud whispers. The blond nodded her head eagerly before Derek focused his attention on the two agents in front of them.

"My baby girl would like to know if you have any pictures to show us. And if you don't have any, I'm sure that she can google-map her way into getting some pictures to show us." Derek shrugged with his arms crossed over his chest. It was obvious that Garcia was not the only one who was interested in seeing the pictures.

Emily chuckled; "Well since we're very familiar with our beloved tech and her un-earthly eagerness to uncover secrets we came prepared." She held up her Ipad, tapped the screen; "Especially since there is no way to keep something like this from Garcia we made sure that we have all of the pictures with us."

"This is going to be our new home." JJ answered proudly while she showed the front view of the house to the team.

Garcia gasped loudly as soon as the picture appeared on the screen; "That's beautiful, absolutely beautiful! Please tell me that there are more pictures?"

One picture after another passed along the screen and the team looked at them in awe. Rossi hummed that it was the perfect home for the couple and Hotch agreed. However he soon had to excuse himself because he had a meeting with Strauss and some other people which he couldn't miss. Derek and Garcia both agreed that the house was perfect. Reid started to spew facts about the area that they were going to live in, the school district and the crime rates until Derek interrupted him. The stronger man offered to give them a hand if they needed any help decorating or moving. An offer which both Emily as well as JJ thanked him for.

The team broke apart and everyone returned to their own desk after they congratulated the happy couple.

The doorbell rang and Emily made her way into the hallway to open the door. She was followed by the rapid footsteps of a very curious little boy. She had barely opened the door when he screamed at the top of his lungs; "Pizza! Mommy! We're having pizza!"

His blonde mother rounded the corner and acted all surprised at the announcement her son just made.

Emily chuckled and greeted the young boy who was standing on the other side of the door with the pizza box in his arms. She gathered the money and wanted to hand it to the boy, when Henry pulled her sleeve; "Mama, can I give the monies?"

"It's money, buddy and yes you can give it." Emily picked Henry up and handed him the money. Henry smiled proudly and held the money out to the pizza delivery guy; "Here's the money, can I have the pizza?" He asked with a serious face.

"Can I have the pizza, please." Emily reprimanded the boy in her arms, while she smiled at the teen who watched the interaction between them with a grin.

"Thank you, little man. Of course you can have the pizza." The tall teen with a mouth filled with braces replied with a smile while he took the money from Henry and handed him the box.

"Have a nice dinner." The lanky teenager smiled while he stashed away the money and turned around with a wave at Henry, he started for his motor and picked the helmet up. Emily wanted to close the door when Henry exclaimed that he wanted to look at the motor.

Emily handed the forgotten pizza over to JJ and waited with Henry for the boy to leave their driveway. Once the teenager had left the street Henry was satisfied enough to remember the pizza.

Once inside they sat down at the coffee table in front of the television. Emily smiled at JJ who was placing the pizza on the table. The blond placed a small slice on Henry's plate while Emily came back from the kitchen with a glass of juice for Henry and a bottle of wine.

"A celebration over pizza, who would ever have thought that would happen in my life." Emily said with a smile - obviously referring to Prentiss style celebrations with champagne and caviar. They were seated on a couple of pillows in front of the coffee table watching a movie on the television.

JJ watched as the brunette poured the wine into the glasses. "I think this is the perfect celebration." The blond revealed with a smile while she held her glass of wine up for Emily to tap hers against. "Cheers!"

A couple of days later Emily and JJ managed to get away from work during the lunch break to take care of the financial matters regarding the house.

On their way back to the FBI Emily could see that JJ was fidgeting. The brunette had looked back and forth between the road and JJ a couple of times. "So, we're actually doing this?"

"We sure are, we just signed the papers." The brunette smiled confidently, she could understand that it was still worrying JJ to some degree. There was nothing wrong with that, actually she would have been surprised if the blond hadn't been worried.

JJ pulled her new set of keys from her from her pocket and laid them in the palm of her hand as if she was weighing them, a smile spread on her face before she turned towards Emily who was just about to park the car in the FBI parking lot. "We should celebrate. Tonight."

Emily was surprised but tried not to show it. She leaned in and kissed JJ; "We'll celebrate tonight." The profiler confirmed with a smile. "Let's go inside, finish our work for the day and go home to celebrate."

As soon as the elevator doors opened on the BAU floor the saw a flurry of a colourful tech run towards them in high heels, they caught her mid-stride and hugged her; "You got it?" She asked in a high pitched tone of voice.

"Well good afternoon, Penelope Garcia." The media liaison said with a chuckle.

"Yes, yes, yes. Hello! So, did you get it?"

"Yes, we did!" JJ exclaimed while she dangled the keys in front of Garcia's eyes.

"The money thing was just a formality, there was no doubt that we wouldn't get it." Emily explained once more to the blond tech.

Who shrugged in reply; "You could have gotten cold feet ... But since you didn't you better decide on when you're going to show me that house for real. The pictures are nice and all but I can't wait to see the real thing."

Emily pushed the glass door open; "We promise, PG you can see it soon. We best get back to work."

The two blonds passed her in the door opening when JJ suddenly stopped the blond tech. "Pen? I got one more question before you go."

"Anything for you, my Sunshine."

"Could you - if you have the time - take care of Henry tonight. I would really like to take Emily out for dinner to celebrate."

"Sure. No problem. You should take your lady out to celebrate." Garcia grinned; "I had already told Kevin that I would offer to stay with Henry if you two wanted to celebrate."

"Thanks, Pen. You're the best."

"Don't mention it." The tech smiled; "But always remember that I'm the best. Besides I love hanging out with my little main man. I can just follow you two home in my car."

"Or you can get in our car, stay at our house tonight and we can all get back here tomorrow. That way you won't have to drive home tonight."

"If it's not any trouble. Good thing I have my go-bag packed." The blond grinned happily, her go-bag consisted of very different items than any of the other team members bags. She too had her bag ready because she never knew when she would be asked to join the team on one of their cases.

"Of course it's no hassle, the guest room is always available for you."

"Cool! Just let me know when you're ready to go!" The technical analyst said before she made her way down the hall towards her lair.

"So ehm ... where are you taking me?"

"Well, that is for me to know and for you to find out." JJ answered with a smile before she made her way up the few steps towards her office. To be honest she had no idea where she was taking Emily tonight, though that was something the brunette didn't need to know. Emily found herself still standing in the middle of the BAU following her lover with her eyes, literally stunned into silence. She knew that she was going to be wondering all afternoon where they were going. She shook her head in disbelief and made her way to her own desk. Rossi decided at that moment that it was time for another mug of coffee, he walked up to Emily's desk and asked her how it all went.

"Perfect, well it was all a formality really."

"The perks of having some play room in your bank account." He answered with a smug smile, as a best selling author he too knew what it was like to have some play room in his bank accounts.

"Hmmm ... yes, it sure makes things like this easier." The brunette smiled - she never talked about her money, never flaunted it either but they all knew about it - she couldn't really deny that fact. "We can now move in whenever we want, but I promised Jayje that I would fix the fencing around the pool first before we do anything. It's too much of a risk. I have some guys coming over early next week, to put up a fence. Then we can start making plans."

"Sounds good, well if you need any help or advice you know who to call, Derek right here loves to wreck and rebuilt houses." The older FBI agent said with a smile while he placed his hand on Derek's broad shoulder before he made his way over to the kitchenette; "Though I will come over with a nice bottle of scotch to celebrate."

"Not cool, man! Not cool." Derek interjected; "Though he is right, if you need help you know how to reach me."

"Thanks Derek, and thank you Rossi for offering Derek's services."

Rossi smiled and took a sip from his coffee; "Well, better his services than the genius. He at least knows what he's supposed to do with a hammer."

"Hey!" Reid spoke up for the first time mixing himself into the conversation.

"Don't worry Reid, everyone has their own speciality, you can unpack my books and put them all in alphabetical order in our office if you like." The brunette came to Reid's defence only too tease him just a little bit more.

Hotch stepped out of his office to go to a meeting somewhere else in the building, he send his agents a look and the gathering was quickly broken up. Everyone got back to work and before they knew it the workday was over. JJ was nervously standing next to Emily's chair waiting for the brunette to finish up; "What's got you on edge?"

"Nothing ... why?"

"Seriously Jayje, you can't stand still for a second. So again, what's going on?"

"Nothing really, I just want to go home and get ready for our date." Emily looked up at the blond suspiciously but turned back to her laptop and started to shut it down. She made quick work of finishing up, but didn't bother to pack her laptop. After all she wouldn't need it at home, not tonight. She sure as hell wasn't planning on doing anything work related tonight, in fact what she was going to do would be the furthest from it as she could possibly get.

She got up and smiled at JJ and together they walked towards Garcia's lair. The door was open and JJ immediately stepped inside to ask Garcia if she was ready, Emily took a quick look around and closed the door behind her. She wanted to make sure that no one was around. She quickly pulled JJ close to her, she couldn't stop herself. She wanted to kiss JJ, she'd wanted to kiss her ever since she told her that they should have dinner tonight. And though everyone knew about their relationship they didn't want to seem unprofessional. But Garcia's lair was safe, there was no way that the Tech would allow video surveillance in her lair. So every now and again Emily and JJ would take advantage of that opportunity.

"So you are taking me out?" Emily asked with a smile the second JJ entered the bedroom; "Where are we going?"

"Not telling you." JJ teased the brunette.

"Why not?" The brunette asked; "How am I supposed to know what I should wear."

"Just wear something stylish ... beautiful. No, better yet let me choose something for you."

"So you're not going to tell me, where we're going?"

"No, I'm not."

"Okay, I will go and get a shower and I guess I'll see what clothes you choose for me to wear afterwards." She leaned in and gave JJ a quick kiss before she retreated to the en-suite bath room. JJ followed her a couple of minutes later with a pair of form-fitting black slacks and a purple blouse. Emily who was just putting on her underwear smiled at the blond. "Hi sexy." JJ replied while she send her a seductive smile. Apparently JJ had taken the time to get changed while she was in the shower.

"You look beautiful, absolutely stunning."

"Thank you. You like it?" JJ asked looking down at her own clothes, she was wearing a black skirt and a black sleeveless blouse.

"Like it, I love it. Is it new?" Emily asked.

"Yes." The blond grinned; "Yes, I bought it when I went shopping with Penelope a couple of weeks ago. I didn't show you?" JJ asked with an innocent smile while she leaned forward to take something out of the cabinet underneath the sink. She innocently flaunted Emily a peak inside her blouse. She knew damn well that she hadn't shown Emily these new clothes, because she was saving them for a special occasion.

"I see that the blouse and skirt is not the only new thing you bought."

"No, it isn't." JJ said while she slapped Emily's wandering hand away. "We don't have time for this, I made a reservation." She stated with a smile.

"Then stop teasing me." The profiler complained with a pout.

"Says the one who still standing in her very sexy bra and panties. You don't see my hands roaming over your body, now do you?" The media liaison questioned the brunette with a raised brow.

Emily couldn't really deny the truth. "Okay, how about you go downstairs and I finish here, I promised that I will be down in fifteen minutes. Dressed and ready to go."

"Sounds like a plan to me. It'll give us enough time to go to the restaurant."

"You're really not going to tell me are you?"

"No, Emily I'm really not going to tell you. You'll see soon enough." The blond rolled her eyes flipped her long hair over her shoulder and made her way downstairs.

True to her promise she had arrived downstairs within fifteen minutes. Garcia whistled between her teeth - which reminded both Emily and JJ of Derek - when Emily made her way into the living room where Garcia was sitting on the floor playing a game with Henry; "Girl, if you weren't taken by Miss Sunshine here I would take you out myself." Garcia answered with a sly smile.

"Why, thank you, Miss Penelope Garcia." The brunette answered with a smile, a red blush made it's way up to her cheeks.

Emily took one more shot, one more chance to ask where they were going, she once again tried to find out where JJ was taking her this time by asking Penelope though that didn't change the answer.

But like her partner the tech was refusing to answer her as well, though Emily was sure that JJ and Penelope had talked about it. She let it go. She offered JJ her hand with a smile and they soon left the house after saying goodnight to Henry and Garcia. They both knew that they probably wouldn't make it home before both Henry as well as Garcia would be in bed.

The brunette raised her glass - they had eaten a wonderful meal in one of Washington's finest restaurants and were now waiting for their dessert to arrive - the profiler waited for JJ to follow her example.

"Jennifer, I love you. You know I love you more than anything and I'm so happy that you reciprocate that love. You are willing to take this step - or rather these steps with me." Emily nervously shifted in her seat, tears stung in her eyes. She'd never thought that she would ever be here at this point in her life with someone she loved so deeply at the beginning of what felt like the rest of her life. "I know that we talked about this before and that we agreed to do this on our terms and there is still a lot we need to discuss ..." Emily slipped down on one knee next to JJ while she took a hold of her hand. "Jennifer, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?"

The blond clasped her hand in front of her mouth, she was stunned into silence. She just stared down at Emily's hand holding a simple yet absolutely beautiful ring in the palm. "Emily! We've already talked about this, we've agreed."

"I know we did, but it didn't feel right." The brunette smiled; "I wanted to do it right."

JJ couldn't stop the smile from appearing on her face, she leaned forward and kissed Emily on her lips. The blond slipped her hand out of Emily's into her own pocket while she continued kissing Emily. She didn't say a single word, she actually hadn't yet agreed to become Emily's wife but it was honestly not a question which needed to be answered. Since they both knew what the answer was, they had after all already agreed to commit themselves to one another.

JJ moved backwards, to make sure that she was able to look Emily straight in her eyes. "I will only do you that honor if you do me the honor of wearing this ring." JJ answered while she casted her eyes downwards to her own hand. Slowly she opened her fingers and revealed the ring in the palm of her hand.

"Of course I'll wear your ring." Emily said, tears stung in her eyes. Their lips crashed together and the tears started to cascade down Emily's cheeks. If anyone had ever told her that this would be in her future just a few years ago she would have laughed at them. She would have laughed - hysterically probably. But here she was placing a ring on JJ's finger, a ring which held a promise for the future. While JJ did the same with the ring she held in her hand.

"Get up, please get up." JJ spoke softly, her hands placed along Emily's jawline while she looked the older woman straight in the eyes. Emily got up and grabbed the back of her chair, she pulled it closer towards JJ's chair and sat down. They were completely engrossed in each other, so much that they weren't aware of the people around them in the restaurant.

A waiter immediately placed two flutes of Champagne on the table, he smiled and congratulated them before he quickly got away from the table. Emily and JJ clinked their glasses together and toasted on their future.

"Thank you for saying yes." Emily spoke softly.

"What else would I have said?" JJ smiled; "I love you so much."

"I've been so afraid, that I would never find love. That it would just be me for the rest of my life, that truly is my biggest fear ... I can't put it any other way. There have been situations were I thought that I might not make it out alive and those were my biggest regrets. That all changed when you answered my love. You really showed me what love is, you've given me everything I've ever dreamed of and so much more. And okay, we talked about this before and we basically agreed to do this which took some of the nerves away but at the same time I wasn't sure if you wanted to do it this way since we said that we wanted to do this our way." The brunette bit her lip and shrugged, she was still not feeling completely comfortable with talking about her feelings - especially these feeling that ran so deep.

JJ stopped the brunette; "Stop. I will wear this ring with pride and if someone notices I want them to know that I am committed to you because I love you." Jennifer admitted with a smile; "I won't tell them what our plans are but they should know that we plan to make it all official."

"Do you think that we can really pull it off? Make all the arrangements without their involvement?" Emily asked a little unsure of the situation and it actually working the way they wanted it to work.

"If that truly is what we want, sure we can. We can use moving into a new house as a reason why we're pushing the date back while we do our own thing. It'll just mean that the next month or two will be crazy busy, with the house, work and on top of that a wedding to plan." The blond reassured the brunette.

"It's what I would like, I know that since my mother is now okay with the whole situation that she will want us to have a huge Prentiss' worthy wedding and most-likely that means that she wants us to do it at the Mansion. And knowing her she'll invite a whole bunch of people who we don't want to invite. I don't want that."

"Me neither." The blond agreed; "I just want it to be us, our family and our friends."

The brunette agreed, just before they were interrupted once more by the waiter who brought them their dessert. The two enjoyed and shared their dessert with each other. JJ insisted on paying the bill before they left the restaurant. "Want to go for a walk before we go home? I have an idea for our wedding, or commitment ceremony whatever we want to call it. Let's talk about it while we walk."

"Yes, let's go." Emily answered while she held out her hand to take JJ's hand in her own. They started to stroll down the road in a comfortable silence. JJ started to talk a few minutes into her walk. She started to explain her idea in detail to Emily.

The buzzing alarm woke them up in the morning - way too early for their taste - but there was nothing they could do about that. Work started in a little while. Emily groaned; "It's too early."

"I know." JJ agreed - sounding just as groggy - she rubbed her eyes and right about now she regretted the wine they drank late last night. They had taken a walk and then Emily had dragged them into a small bar where they toasted on their upcoming marriage and their new home.

"We better get up, Henry and Garcia will be up soon." Emily spoke softly, her eyes were still closed and except for the talking she didn't seem awake at all.

"Too late, I can hear the shower running. Garcia's already up." JJ mumbled. "Can you get Henry while I take a shower?"

"Yeah sure, I can do that in a little while." The brunette replied.

"No, now. We really have to get up." JJ stretched her hand out and pushed Emily against her arm but she wasn't really moving either. "Common' Emily you didn't drink as much as I did ... if you did you shouldn't have driven us home."

The profiler opened her eyes with effort and rolled them at her partner; "Right. I'm up." She mumbled while she pushed herself up on one arm and kissed the blond before she retrieved a hoodie from the closet which she pulled over her head while she made her way to Henry's room. She sat down on the edge of the bed and reached her hand out to wake Henry up when she stopped mid stride, her eyes caught the glimmer of the ring JJ gave her in the morning sun and a smile appeared on her lips. A smiled which wouldn't leave her face for a long, long time of that she was sure.

"Hey buddy, wake up." She said while she gently shook Henry - who was pretending to still be asleep - awake. She helped him get dressed and chased him downstairs where she started to prepare breakfast. She didn't have to wait long before Garcia came down the stairs, she was was already stilled and dressed completely.

"Good morning Miss Prentiss, are you actually awake or are you just sleepwalking?" The brunette smiled and brushed her tousled hair back.

"Don't worry about me, I already helped Henry get dressed. I can't help it when Jayje's keeping the bathroom occupied." The brunette shrugged; "Besides I haven't had my coffee." Garcia grabbed some of the items which Emily placed on the kitchen counter and started to set them on the table.

JJ came downstairs looking fully awake and stunning in her navy blue pinstripe pant suit with a bright blue button up shirt, her long blond hair was straightened and she was already done with her make-up. She made her way into the kitchen with a smile; "Good morning." She spoke with a grin; "The bath room is free. I'll finish this while you get ready." JJ wrapped her arms around Emily from behind and kissed her on her cheek.

Emily smiled; "Thank you."

The brunette placed the bread she was holding on the counter, she wanted to walk away when Garcia's squeal stopped her dead in her tracks. "Wait a minute you two! Is there something you would like to tell your best friend?" They both tried to look innocently but they knew that there was no way they could escape Garcia's prying eyes without her demanding an answer. "What is that ... and that!" Garcia said while she pointed at their hands. JJ smiled, she entangled her fingers into Emily's.

Henry who had been playing in the corner of the living room with his cars snapped his head up at his mother's and his aunty Pen when she squealed. He quickly got up and ran to his mommy. JJ smiled at him and picked him up. She hoisted him up to her hip and kissed his cheek. "Why don't you tell aunty Pen to turn the volume down a bit, it's too early."

Henry nodded and smiled; "Shhhh... Aunty Pen." He put his finger up to his mouth in a shushing gesture.

"Okay, Aunty Pen will turn the volume down if your mommies tell me all about those rings." Henry looked between his aunt and his mommies. JJ sat Henry down on the counter since he was getting too heavy for her to hold.

"Emily asked me to be her wife, I told her that I would only say yes if she would wear the ring that I bought for her." She smiled and kissed the brunette. "I guess we both had the same idea."

"Oh my God! You two are so cute together! So when is the big date?"

"We don't know yet. We haven't really talked about a date, it's a promise for the future. With the house and all that ... let's first get that done and them we can talk about dates." JJ explained to the blond tech.

"Well, I hereby offer my services." The blond answered with a huge grin. She clapped her hands; "This is going to be awesome!"


	50. Chapter 50

**Chapter 50**

When Elizabeth - and Edward - had offered to take Henry for however long they needed them to take care of him while they worked the case they had been surprised but also delighted. Even more so when her mother had claimed that she would be the one to stay with him and no nanny would be in sight. Of course Mary was at the mansion to cook and clean and she had promised with a wink that she would keep her eyes on Henry and Elizabeth. Both Emily and JJ had chuckled at the older woman's comment. Elizabeth had smiled politely and claimed that she knew how to take care of a child. Emily had watched her with a raised brow but didn't say anything, this was not something that needed to be said out loud.

The case they had worked had been gruesome, a horrible case involving little children and neither Hotch, JJ nor Emily could wait until the following day to see their respective sons. They where what kept them grounded, the reason they wanted to make the world a better place. The team had discussed the matter, but with three parents wanting to go home to their kids they had all voted to fly home even if that meant that they would be arriving home in the middle of the night. Emily called ahead to inform her parents, to let them know that they were driving down to the Prentiss Mansion late that night. They were tired and the smartest thing to do would have been driving to their own home since it would have been a shorter drive but they needed to see Henry. They needed to feel the innocence in which a small child like Henry was able to live his life, they needed to know that their work made the world a better place even if they hadn't been able to save these particular children.

JJ was staring out the window, rubbing her eyes when they passed the exit which would lead them to their new house. "In a couple of weeks, we're going to be almost home when we're at this point." She rubbed her temple - despite everything she smiled; "I'm really looking forward to that moment when we can finally call this neighbourhood our home. I'm glad we did it, it's important that we have a place we can call our home, our own little patch of heaven."

"Me too. Though I wouldn't exactly call it little but it's sure going to be heaven once everything is finished." Emily agreed with a sigh, she still had quite a drive ahead of her and she focused her attention on the road. They sat in silence for a while, before Emily started talking again. She moved her head side to side, the movement made her neck pop; "Can we talk about something? I don't care what. I just ... I'm tired." The brunette started to yawn before she could finish the sentence.

"You're tired and you need to talk about something to stay occupied. Ehm, okay..." JJ understood the unexpected request. She sat in silence for a minute before a smile appeared on her face. She was tired, and coming up with something to talk about proved to be harder than she'd expected. "Let's talk about this weekend."

"I like talking about this weekend." Emily answered with a smile.

"Good. Me too. I talked to Will earlier today on the phone, he's picking us up at the airport tomorrow evening. He has our flight details and he will be there. He has the whole weekend off, so Henry will stay with him, while you and I stay at that bed & breakfast two streets over which he recommended since he doesn't have an extra room. It'll give us some alone time while Henry and Will can spend some time together as well. I was thinking that I would talk to Will alone. I want to tell him about our impending commitment ... marriage. I'm still not sure what to call it ..." The blond admitted, she bit her lip.

Emily chuckled; "I would just call it a marriage ... it's a term people understand. There is no reason to make it more difficult than it needs to be."

"I guess you're right." JJ agreed with a smile.

"Course I am ..." Emily answered confidently.

"Right! Don't go all cocky on me it doesn't suit a lady." JJ punched the brunette in the arm but laughed at the comment as well.

"Okay, and punching is lady like?" Emily asked while she rubbed her upper arm, with a smile.

"As I said," JJ replied completely ignoring Emily's question; "I want to be the one to talk to Will. I know that this is something we should probably do together but I feel that I need to do this alone. He asked me to marry him and I broke his heart time and time again ... and now I'm dropping this bomb on him. I feel like I owe him ... I was thinking that we could ask Will if he would like to take Henry after the wedding so that you and I can have a small vacation together. We're going to need some one on one time when this is over with, work and the new house and everything. Besides that I think that Will might like to have a little one on one time with Henry as well ..."

"I do think that this is a conversation we should have with him together, but I also understand your reasons for wanting to talk to him alone. I really do. And I think that Will would love to have some time alone with Henry." Emily smiled - they were almost at the Prentiss Mansion. She rubbed her eyes, they stung and she felt the need to close them give them rest. But she needed to arrive at the Mansion first - and she needed to see Henry. Even if he was just sleeping, she needed to see with her own eyes that he was safe and his innocence protected. Their gruesome case really left an impression on the team, she was grateful that something as innocent as watching Henry sleep could ease her mind. And once again she wondered how the hell she could have worked for the FBI in the past years without that comfort, how had she survived? "I'm sure that Henry's going to love having a holiday with his dad."

"For sure, he hasn't stopped talking about this weekend. Not even for a second, imagine him being able to spend a whole week with his daddy. Every time I spoke to him this week he asked how many nights he had to sleep till he could see daddy for real."

Emily finally parked the car in front of her parents Mansion after she opened the gate with her code and drove the car inside. She couldn't stop herself from sighing in relief, she was so tired and glad that they made it. The case they worked really did a number on her - on the team. JJ reached over, she placed her hand on Emily's - which was still resting on the steering wheel; "Common' lets get inside. Your mother has the guest-room ready for us." Emily nodded in reply, she wasn't able to do much more. They got out of the car, grabbed their bags from the trunk and made their way inside. Emily was surprised to see the light in her father's office alight, she pushed the door - which was slightly ajar - further open and was even more surprised surprised to see her father sitting in the big dark leather chair with a book on his lap.

"Dad?"

"Oh, hello. There you are."

Emily checked her watch; "Don't tell me you stayed up for us? We would have been able to find our room upstairs all by ourselves. You know?"

"Yes Emily, I do know that you would be able to get upstairs all by yourself." Edward closed the book and placed it next to the empty coffee mug on the coaster on top of his mahogany desk. He got up and gave them both a hug; "I just wanted to make sure that you two made it here alright. You sounded tired on the phone - you two worked that case down South, didn't you?"

"Yeah, we did. It was brutal." JJ confirmed.

"I saw it on the news, it sounded like the type of case your team would work on. Well, Henry's been asleep for a couple of hours, he's up in his room. I don't know if you would like to eat something before you go to bed, but Mary's made some sandwiches and placed them in the fridge. I'm going to bed, see you in the morning."

"Well ... if you don't mind me taking it upstairs I would really like a sandwich." Emily answered with a tired smile while she once again rubbed her eyes.

"Sure. Take it upstairs with you. Your mom won't like it but it's not her bedroom." Edward provided with a smile; "What time is breakfast?"

"Ehm ... eight." JJ answered with a sigh. "We have to be at Quantico at ten though that really is the last thing I want to think about." Emily returned with a bottle of water and a plate with different sandwiches.

"I'll see you two at eight." Edward said while he gave his daughter and her partner a kiss on the cheek. He turned off the light and made his way up the first couple of stairs followed by the two women.

Emily spoke softly so that she wouldn't wake her mother or Henry; "Dad, you don't have to."

"Indeed I don't, but I want to." Edward opened the door to his bedroom and stepped inside.

"Let's check on Henry." JJ whispered, she leaned into Emily and kissed her gently on her lips. Emily wordlessly nodded but took JJ's go-bag from her and placed in the guest-bedroom which would be theirs for the night - as short as the night might be.

JJ waited for the brunette to return to the hallway and together they entered the room which had become Henry's room now that he had stayed at his grandparents house a couple of times. As soon as Emily returned to the hallway she pushed the door handle down and opened the door gently. She smiled when she saw his blond hair peaking out above the covers, she instantly felt better. The weight was lifting from her shoulders and one look at Emily showed her that the brunette felt the same.

Henry was deep in sleep, a smile played on his lips. He was obviously having a good dream, the fact that he looked so innocent made it easier for the both of them to forget the horrible images that they had seen at their last case which hadn't faded to the background until right this second. And finally with their minds a little bit more at ease they could go to bed and sleep.

***

"Aha, here they are!" Will exclaimed happily when he saw the three of them step through the glass doors into the wide open space of the arrivals hall. JJ let go of Henry's hand and the boy ran forward, he skipped a couple of times before he launched himself into Will's arms. He was caught by his daddy in a true bear hug by the time his mommies joined them. "Jayje, Emily, it's so good to see you two here in my beautiful hometown." The man's Southern accent seemed to have grown even stronger now that he was surrounded by the people from his hometown, who all talked in the same manner. Will looked up at his son with a smile, the boy was clinging to his shoulders. A big smile was on his face.

Will stepped forward and leaned in to hug Emily "It's good to see you too, Will." The brunette answered while she hugged him back. He leaned in again and hugged JJ next and smiled at her warmly; "Glad you had the time." The Southern detective replied to his ex.

"Of course, we promised you we would." The blond smiled.

"Yeah, I know but thanks anyway. Do you guys have everything or do you have to pick up another bag?"

"No, we're good to go." Emily said while she patted the go-bag under her arm. She had a backpack with Henry's belongings on her back. While JJ was holding her own go-bag over her shoulder.

"Good, hand me one of those bags and I'll lead the way." The detective said while he held out his hand to take Emily's go bag.

"I'm good. Lead the way, besides you have Henry."

"Alright, suite yourself ... just don't forget that I tried to be chivalrous." Will answered with a smile while he started for the exit and guided the way. Emily and JJ followed Will and Henry outside, where he led them towards the parking lot. The blond smiled at the brunette, she took a hold of the brunette's hand. "I got one of the cars from the precinct for the weekend. Since it's easier than my truck." Will explained when he saw JJ's raised brow when he stopped at the car and pushed the switch on the hand-held device to open the doors. They placed their bags in the back while Will strapped Henry into the car seat which he had placed on the back seat when he arrived home that afternoon. Luckily it wasn't a long drive from the airport to his new home. He had purchased a small house in his old rebuilt neighbourhood. A lot had changed since Katharina but one thing was for sure, New Orleans did not loose it's spirit and the people didn't loose their passion. A lot of them had returned to their beloved city once it was safe and started the clean up.

Will loved New Orleans, it had always been obvious but now even more so. He couldn't stop telling them about the different parts of the city that they past. Now even more than ever before Emily realised how much Will must have loved JJ to leave this city behind to be with her. She could only imagine what her relationship with JJ was doing to him, and while there had been some struggles they all managed to get along really well. And here they were to drop another bomb on him, she couldn't really help it, she was feeling a tad bit queasy. She kept her eyes focussed on the buildings they past.

Will had arranged for them to stay at a small bed & breakfast, which was their first stop of the evening. They met the owner, a lovely elderly woman who had cared for the bed & breakfast for years, many many years. There were pictures on the wall as well as articles from newspapers about the owner. Apparently she had started the bed & breakfast way back in the seventies with her late husband. The house was cosy and warm. She wrote down their details showed them to their room where they left their bags and handed them a key for the front door and for the room on their way out.

Will's house was close to the bed and breakfast, not more than a couple of minutes away. So eventually Will parked the car - which he borrowed from his job - behind his own truck in the driveway of a small but homey looking house, with a wrap around porch. It was one of those small houses which seemed to be so typical for this area.

***

Will had a small garden behind his house, in which the porch area with the grill had a very prominent place. So no one was really surprised when he told them that he had a little barbecue prepared. Both Emily and JJ helped him with the last couple of preparations while Will started the fire underneath the grill. They sat down together ate and talked, around nine it all became too much for Henry - who was already way past his bedtime but fighting his sleep to stay up with his daddy longer. He eventually fell asleep on JJ's lap, Will immediately offered to take him from her and bring him up to his new room. Henry stirred when his daddy picked him up but he didn't wake up. He merely wrapped his arms around his father's neck.

Emily and JJ sat next to each other on the porch while they waited for Will to return, they talked softly. JJ leaned her head on Emily's shoulder and the brunette kissed the long blond tresses. "I'm glad that we can do this."

"Me too. Whatever happens I don't want our family to become a statistic. I want us to stay friends and keep the lines of communication open even now that Will lives down south."

"And we will do whatever we can to keep it this way." Emily agreed, she took a sip from her drink and remained silent while they waited for Will who returned a couple of minutes later. The silence was comfortable, both of them were tired, it had been a difficult and long week.

"So, tell me how's the new house coming along?" Will asked with interest while he sat down. He himself had smiled proudly when Henry had exclaimed that he loved his new room earlier in the evening. Will had really stepped up and made sure that Henry had his own room in his house, even if he would spend relatively little time at Will's house.

"They put up the glass walls around the pool this week, we haven't seen it yet due to our case but Garcia send us pictures and it looks good. It's save for Henry but doesn't take away from the view. The painters have also done their work, so now begins the fun stuff..." Emily rolled her eyes while she finished her sentence. She really hated packing up her stuff and moving. But knowing that this was going to be her home for the future with the woman of her dreams and the little boy she called her son made it all a lot better.

"Packing your stuff and moving into a new place." Will agreed; "It's dreadful but once you are done unpacking everything in your new house it feel so much better. Belief me, I know what I'm talking about."

They talked for a while longer before Emily and Jayje decided that it was time for them to go, after all they had worked, then made the trip here. Since the bed and breakfast they would be staying at was nearby they decided to take a short walk. They left the house after they made a plan for the next day. Emily and JJ made their way to the bed & breakfast hand in hand. The elderly lady - who owned the bed & breakfast - was sitting in the small living room area of the house when they stepped inside. She greeted them with a smile,asked them how late they wanted to have their breakfast and wished them a good night when they made their way up the stairs. Emily hardly had time to close the door when she was pushed against it and attacked by the blonde. She'd been training with Derek lately and the evidence of those training sessions was getting more and more visible. In the field and outside as well apparently, with the speed of light she was undoing the buttons on her blouse. As soon as Emily's mind caught up with what was happening she followed the blond's example.

***

After breakfast the next morning - made by Thea, the elderly owner of the bed & breakfast they were staying at - they headed back towards Will's house. They had no idea what the plan for the day was - Will had told them that he would take care of everything - but it was a beautiful sunny day and they were sure that Will had a plan. They arrived early and Henry and Will were still having breakfast on the back porch. Henry was munching on a pancake when his mother's arrive. "Hey buddy, what do you have there?" Emily asked while she leaned down and kissed the top of Henry's head.

"Pancakes, daddy made them! They are super yummy. Maybe he has more?"

"We already had breakfast, sweetie." JJ replied with a smile.

"Oh no, you're not getting away with that ... I made you both a pancake and coffee. You have to taste it, I've improved my recipe. It's better than ever. Common' sit down."

JJ smiled; "Improved the recipe, well ... I can't really say no now can I?"

"Nope you can't." Henry claimed.

"Okay, but just one because we already had a good breakfast."

Will brought out two mugs and two plates, he placed them in front of JJ and Emily before he sat down next to Henry. Who was looking around the table with a big smile while he munched on another piece of pancake.

"So tell us Will, what are the plans for today?"

Will took a sip from his coffee and sat back in his chair; "Well I was thinking of taking all of you for a trip down town, I want to show you the beauty of my city as well as taste the atmosphere and this afternoon I was planning on going to a nearby park to have a picnic and I hope that you don't mind it if I invite someone to join us?"

"Oh, Will is there something we should know or rather someone we should know about?" Emily teased the Southern man with a cheeky grin on her face.

"Well ..." Will scratched the back of his head before he continued talking; "Yes, actually there is. Her name is Theresa ... she works the front desk at the police station. I've known her for years ... I ehm always liked her but she was married to a cop ... a dirty cop. He was caught a year or two ago, he was convicted and send upstate. She divorced him and when I came back we got to know each other better. Henry has already met her, I was invited to my old partners widow's house with Christmas and I took Henry with me, she was there as well though back then we were just acquaintances. I didn't expect this to happen so soon but I told her about the two of you and Henry and the way that we're handling things and she has been really ... she's been a really good friend and I would really like for you two to know her as well."

"That's good to hear, Will. We would love to meet her." JJ replied, she'd known that there was something different about Will but until this moment she hadn't been able to put her finger on it. The grown man smiled like a kid on Christmas morning in front of a pile of presents. She was happy for him and she was also very eager to meet this woman who had captured his heart - hopefully in the way that he needed it to be captured.

Will stepped away to make a phone call and came back with a happy smile on his face. "Theresa's really looking forward to meeting us at the park."

***

Will guided them through the French Quarter, eventually he led them to the second floor of a restaurant where a wrap around balcony gave them a view of the crossing beneath them. The sounds of music drifted over from one of the buildings on the other side of the street where a live band was playing. They ordered coffee and talked for a while about the city but it was very obvious to the adults that it was quite annoying for Henry. It was obvious that he was eager to get to the park where he would actually have something to do besides listening to the adults.

Will got up when he noticed that Henry was about to throw a fit; "Okay, there are a couple of things we have to get from a store nearby, most of the food is in the back of the car in one of those cooling containers. How about we men pick up the remaining items at the store while your mommies have another coffee?" He suggested to his son, who immediate jumped up and took his hand. He impatiently started to pull his daddy towards the door. Will smiled and acted as if he tipped his imaginary hat before he turned around.

"Daddy, do you have cookies?"

"Cookies, no we don't have cookies."

When Will turned around Henry immediately started asking questions; "Oh daddy! You need cookies at a picnic!" Henry exclaimed in an exaggerated tone of voice.

"I guess we have to go an fix it because we can't have an incomplete picnic." Will replied while they walked through the door.

A little while later Will and Henry returned with a box and a bag from the bakery. Which made Emily and JJ wonder how many different kinds of cookies would be deemed appropriate for a picnic by Henry.

"It's not as bad as it looks." Will replied with a smile, when he noticed the looks he got from the two women. "Ready to go? I told Theresa that we would meet her around one-ish." He looked down at his watch; "If we go now we get there in time, and we will still have some time to prepare everything before they arrive."

"They? As in Theresa is bringing someone with her?"

"Can get nothing past you, can I?" Will admitted suddenly feeling a little embarrassed because he didn't mention it before. She scratched the back of his head and his cheeks burned. "Theresa is bringing her daughter, she's around the same age as Henry - a little younger. The sweetest little girl, Maddy and Henry met at the party."

"Maddy's coming to the park?" Henry asked with big eyes, he exclaimed a loud yeah at his father's nod and pumped his fist in the air.

It was a short drive to the park, it was beautiful big park with a large pond in the centre of it. Will opened the back of the unmarked police car he'd borrowed and picked up the cooler. Henry picked up the soccer ball, dropped it on the floor and kicked it onto the grass. "Common' mommy! Play soccer with me!" Henry screamed while he ran away. JJ who was just about to pick up the blanket looked up.

"He isn't asking me, give me that." Emily answered with a smile while she took the blanket from the blond and used her hip to push the blond aside. She leaned in and kissed the younger woman before she send her off with a smile. The blond smiled back, lowered her sunglasses and ran after her son. Will and Emily followed the two of them at a slower tempo while they looked for a spot to sit down. "How about over there, close to the water in the shade underneath those trees?"

"Sounds like a plan to me." Will answered with a smile while he started to walk in the direction of the group of trees. Emily spread out the blanket while Will opened the cooler and started to place the food he had brought with him on it. "I better give Theresa a call, so that she will know where to find us." He grabbed his phone and stepped away for a minute before he returned. "She was parking her car so she will be here in a couple of minutes." He explained before he walked away towards Henry and JJ to relay the message to them as well. The three of them returned together.

Closely followed by Theresa and Maddy. In a lot of ways Theresa resembled JJ, from the blue eyes to the blond hair. She was petite, like JJ though less athletically build. But it was obvious that she was Will's type.

Maddy was skipping besides her mother when they walked up, but suddenly became a little shy when they approached Emily and JJ. She hid behind her mother while she peaked around her because she wanted to see who these women were. Henry however had other plans, he waved at her with a huge grin and when she hid behind her mother he stepped forward and took her hand. "Hi Maddy, it's fun to see you again. This is my mommy and that is my mama and you already know my daddy."

"You have two mommies?" Maddy asked in surprise.

"Yes, two mommies and a daddy." Henry replied proudly while he led Maddy over to his mother; "Mommy, this is Maddy."

"Hi Maddy, it's so nice to meet you. You can call me Jayje." The blond woman said while she kneeled down to get to the same level as the little girl and shake her hand. Henry moved around JJ towards Emily and pulled her closer; "And this is my mama, Emily."

Emily followed JJ's example and knelled down as well; "Hi Maddy, I'm Emily."

"Well, that kid sure is a charmer." Theresa said while she watched how Henry broke the ice for her daughter. "Hi, I'm Theresa. Will's friend."

"He sure is." JJ answered with a proud smile while she stepped forward and held out her hand for Theresa; "I'm Jennifer Jareau, but you can call me Jayje. This is Emily Prentiss and you've already met our son Henry."

"Yes, I did. He's a cute kid."

"Okay, ladies and gentlemen." Will said with a look at his son; "Why don't we all sit down and have a nice meal together. By the way Theresa, they know about us."

"Oh, that is so good to know." Theresa said while she stepped closer to him and kissed him on his lips. It was a tiny and innocent kiss but a much needed one that much was obvious. Emily and JJ busied themselves by sitting down and starting to pour drinks for the kids.

They ate and talked for a while - enjoying the sandwiches and cookies Will picked up at the bakery as well as the variety of vegetables and fruits - they watched as the kids played.

It didn't really take long before the conversation landed on relationships and while Emily and JJ had a solid relationship was a solid one Theresa and Will were just figuring out theirs. "I'm impressed by the way you all handle the situation, I mean ... I couldn't do this with my husband."

"Honey, you can't compare our situation with your situation." Will said while he wrapped an arm around her.

"I know. I'm not ... well not really anyway. Ben made his bed, he can lie in it. But I don't want him in my life or in Maddy's life for that matter. But their are not many families who do what you do, it's not the norm." Theresa said; "Most times when parents get divorced they have nothing good to say about the other parent and usually the kids are the victims."

"It's actually easier to do when you are confronted with the reality of broken homes, well the really tragic ones at least. It makes you want to do better. And while Will and I broke up we do have a son together who needs both of us, we owe it to him." JJ spoke softly, she didn't want the kids to overhear them talking.

"It's great to see that things can be different." Theresa said while she leaned forward and took another cookie. She sat back and watched Will for a second. "Since you two already know about us I would like to explain something. My ex-husband, Maddy's father did something stupid and he's currently in jail. Will and I have known each other for a long long time but only recently - since he moved back here - we got to know each other. I have chosen to not keep this from Maddy. She's very perceptive and she would known that something had changed if I'd tried to hide it. Her father hid things from me for years and years, and it all came on when he was caught and convicted. I promised myself that I would never keep anything from Maddy. So she knows that Will and I are trying to figure out what this between us is and I hope that you two don't mind if I or Maddy are around when Henry's here."

"Theresa, you don't have to explain your choices to us. She's your daughter, a cute little girl who deserves all the love in the world. I'm sorry that your husband didn't treat you right, I can promise you that Will's not like that." JJ couldn't help it, she wanted to see Will happy even if things hadn't worked out between them.

"Jayje, please ... stop." Will's cheeks turned a darker shade of red.

Theresa smiled; "You allowed a good man to get away." A cheeky smile spread on her face especially when she noticed how uncomfortable it made Will feel.

"Okay, that's it. This is my cue to go play soccer with the kids." Will's face was still a considerably darker shade of red than it would normally be when he walked away. Emily, JJ and Theresa couldn't help it when they burst out in laughter.

"I allowed a good man to get away, but I have the best woman by my side." JJ answered while she leaned in and kissed the brunette.

"Don't tease me! I suck at soccer ... I don't know what would be worse, listening to you and feeling embarrassed or embarrass myself by going over there and playing soccer with Henry, Maddy and Will." The brunette replied with a smile.

***

The afternoon with Maddy and Theresa had been a blast, so much so that Will invited them over for dinner that night. They arrived back at Will's house and Will announced that he would start working on dinner. Theresa asked him if he wanted her help but he declined, he said that he had it all under control.

"Will? I would like to talk to you?" JJ asked while she stepped into the small house. Emily was outside with Henry in the garden when JJ had seen her chance to go inside and talk to him in private.

"Sure, I hope you don't mind that I keep on working on dinner." Will asked her with a smile. "Is this about Theresa and Maddy?"

"No problem, can I help while we talk?" JJ replied; "This is not about them, they are wonderful I am glad that you met her."

"Yes. You can help me." The Southern man pointed to the tomatoes and cucumbers which were placed besides the cutting board. JJ nodded and stepped forward. She took the cutting knife from the counter and started to cut the tomatoes. Will continued preparing a marinade for the meat he was going to make. They worked side by side for a while in silence when finally Will opened his mouth, his curiosity was taking the better of him. "You wanted to talk to me?"

"Yes ... yes, I wanted to talk to you." JJ replied, feeling nervous and unsure of how to start this particular conversation. "Ehm ... Emily and I have ... we've decided ... that we ehm ..."

"You've decided what? That you're going to get married or however you want to call it?"

"Well actually ... ehm yes, that is exactly what we decided." JJ started laughing; "I guess you wouldn't believe that I'm a media liaison if you hear me stumbling over my own words."

"Look Chere, I've known for a while that what Emily and you have goes far deeper than what we had. And if I'd been honest with myself I knew that a marriage between us would ... eventually not work out. These last months in DC gave me a lot of time to think about things that I had refused to think about. I love you, there is no doubt about that but I also wanted to change you and you came too far in your life to allow that to happen. Which is good. It makes you the strong and independent women, the woman I know Emily loves and appreciates."

"Thanks Will, that means a lot." JJ felt tears sting in her eyes; "Especially coming from you."

Will pulled her close and kissed the top of her head; "Don't mention it, it's the truth."

"We have set a date, you are actually the first person to hear the actual date because we're planning on a week-long honeymoon and we would like it if you could take care of Henry for that week. I know that my parents could probably do it, even Emily's parents would take care of him if we asked them but I wanted to give you a chance to have Henry for the week if it is managable for you with work and all that." The blond watched her ex, he was silent for a moment.

"I would love to have Henry here for a week, but I have to see if I can get the time off from work. I want to make sure that I can actually be here with him." Will admitted. "I want to, I'm definitely going to see if I can arrange it."

"Okay. There is one more thing, I don't know if this is weird or not but Emily and I wanted to ask you if you would like to come to our wedding. Maybe it's weird and you don't want to ... so I just want you to be honest but you are important in our lives. And I think that we've proven that we can be good friends so I would really like it if you would be there."

"Chere, stop rambling. We are friends, I would like to be there." Will confirmed.

"Really, you would? It's not weird?"

"Nah, it's not. We're family, it's our way of handling situations." Will pulled JJ into an embrace and once again kissed the top of her head. "Congratulations."

"Thank you."

"Let's finish this, before the other's starve from hunger because we're taking so long."

JJ blinked her eyes to prevent the tears that were stinging behind her eyes from falling - even though they were happy tears, happy because this was all tuning out way better than she ever could have expected when Will and she broke up.

***

They boarded the plane Sunday night after they spend a wonderful weekend in New Orleans with Will. Given the week they had with the case they worked and the busy weekend sight seeing they where all exhausted so it was no real surprise that JJ and Henry were asleep as soon as the plane was up in the air. Emily was struggling however, she was tired but she couldn't sleep either.

It was a little while later when the Captain started doing his little speech that Emily gave up. She was too wound up and probably would fall asleep right before she would have to wake up again. She smile when she saw Henry stir besides her. He rubbed his eyes and looked up at her with a tired little smile. JJ on Henry's other side was still out for the count, she didn't even stir when they hit the fist turbulence. Of course it wasn't something which worried them because they were too used to flying but Henry looked up at Emily with scary eyes. As soon as the turbulence hit he had clenched his small hand around Emily's arm. The brunette was sure that she had five small moon-shaped imprints on her skin but she couldn't care less. She looked down at Henry and asked him lightly - to take his focus away from the turbulence; "Can't sleep?" Emily asked Henry who nodded his head. The brunette loosened her own seatbelt and made quick work of Henry's and pulled the little boy into her lap. Henry giggled - instantly forgotten that the turbulence had scared him - and wiggled a little until he found a comfortable position to rest his head against Emily's shoulder. The brunette absent-mindedly stoked her hand over Henry's back in a soothing gesture. It didn't take long before Henry was asleep as well.

One of the flight attendants made her way over and asked if Emily wanted to have a drink. "Yes. Please, a coffee." The young woman nodded and returned soon with the coffee. She helped Emily by placing the coffee on the table in front of Henry's now empty seat.

"Would you like to have a blanket for your son? "

"Thank you, that's very kind."

The flight attendant smiles; "Just doing my job." She picked one of the fleece blankets from an overhead compartment and placed it over Henry and Emily, the second blanket was placed over JJ before she stepped away with a smile to tend to the other people on the flight. The rest of the flight was rather uneventful, except when JJ woke up she moved over into Henry's empty seat and talked for a couple of minutes before she fell asleep again, this time her head was resting on Emily's shoulder as well. The brunette smiled, she was tired but for some reason unable to sleep. Emily waited patiently until the Captain announced that they where approaching their destination. She gently woke JJ up. The blond helped her with Henry who woke up more than a little groggy, it was after all a long time past his bedtime and waking him up from a deep sleep was never a success. The flight attendant took the blankets back with a smile and placed them in the overhead compartment. She quickly checked if everyone had their seatbelt on and returned to her own seat right before the seatbelt light blinked on. The plane started to descent and soon they landed.

They were able to leave the airport behind since they only brought their go-bags and no suitcases. Emily who was still wide awake drove them home and made quick work of undressing Henry and brushing his teeth. She was she that he was asleep before his head hit his pillow.

She returned to her own bedroom and smiled at what she found there. JJ was face down, still dressed in her clothes on the center of the bed lightly snoring. She sat down besides the blond and stoked her back. "Wake up, honey. I'm sure you'll sleep better when you get undressed and in a more comfortable position."

"No, sleeping ... too early."

"Actually it's too late. Common's Jayje get up , brush your teeth and get out of those clothes. You know you will regret it if you fall asleep like this in the morning." Emily tried to reason with JJ. Finally the blond was getting up from the bed and moving towards the bath room.


	51. Chapter 51

Chapter 51

They had been packing up their stuff every free minute they had but it turned out to be an never ending project. Or at least that was what it felt like, especially combined with work and taking care of Henry. Especially his room had been difficult, he had already had a couple of break downs because he wanted to play with a certain toy and it had already been packed. But his biggest break down had happened when JJ and Emily had attempted to put some of his toys which he hadn't played with or actually grown out of into storage. He didn't understand why they were taking away his toys, especially when their new house was bigger than the old one which meant that they would have more space. Both JJ as well as Emily wanted to start anew and not take everything with them since it would only clutter up the new house.

Eventually Emily explained to Henry that there are a lot of children in the world who didn't have the amount of toys he has, that there are a lot of kids who live in poverty and even kids without parents. When she was sure that he understood what she was telling him she told him that there were a lot of charities which could use toys like his for those kids and that it would cheer them up a lot if they had beautiful toys to play with. Especially if he didn't really use the toys. Henry took a while to think about it but eventually he started sorting out his toys. JJ had tears in her eyes when she saw her little boy sorting out his toys with great care and without another fuss. In the end a good amount was given to charity. Along with a fair amount of their furniture and Emily's old stuff - which had been put in storage when she moved from her apartment to JJ's house - which they weren't going to use in the new house.

That action took care of a great amount of things which they didn't have to pack or make arrangements for since the charity of choice was happy to pick the toys and furniture up themselves. However they still had a great deal of work ahead of them. They wanted to make sure that all of their personal belongings were taken care of before the movers arrived on Saturday. Luckily the team was off rotation for a week before and a week after the move which meant that they were home at reasonable hours every evening and they weren't about to be send away on a case at a minutes notice.

Of course Elizabeth Prentiss was the one who recommended the moving company to them, with all the times the Prentiss family had been relocated due to her work she was bound to have some fantastic recommendations in that area. So one call from the Ambassador Prentiss and the move at this short notice was no problem at all. A crew of four would meet them at their house around eight in the morning and they promised to be done that same afternoon. Which meant that Saturday night would be the first night in their new house, their home.

***

Emily was excited for the move, as much as she hated the whole process of actually moving stuff she loved the prospect of settling into their home and into their life. The sun was barely up when Emily woke up, and she wasn't able to get back to sleep. So she decided to get up and get ready for the day while she took care of a few minor tasks which had to be handled before they could leave this house behind.

Honestly Emily had no idea how much time had passed when she heard the sounds of JJ walking down the stairs followed by Henry. She smiled at them and gestured to the table where the two blondes sat down, both still looking very sleepy. But Emily who had already been out the door to pick up breakfast was wide awake when she put the plates with sandwiches down on the table along with a glass of ice cold milk for Henry and coffee for the adults.

JJ took a sip and once she ingested the caffeine she seemed to wake up; "Honey, how long have you been up?" She asked with a frown.

"Not sure. A couple of hours, it was early. Real early." The brunette stated with a shrug. "I took a shower and I packed some last up some of the last items before I went to the bakery to get something for breakfast. I returned about twenty minutes ago, I figured that I would give you thirty minutes before I would come upstairs to wake you up?"

"You should have woken me up, you didn't have to do all of it on your own." JJ replied, considerably more awake than a couple of minutes before now that she'd carefully sipped her hot coffee.

"You were still asleep, I had a really bad night, I didn't want to wake you up at the crack of dawn. It felt good to have some time alone." Emily admitted softly.

"Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, sure. I was just ... I guess moving day always makes me anxious it's like ... well it feels like I'm packing my stuff for the millionth time. I'm afraid that I am forgetting important stuff so I can't sleep and I'm up at the crack of dawn. That's all. Promise, don't worry about it. I'll sleep better once this is all done." Emily said between bites while she gestured around with her hand vaguely around the house. "Sweetheart, I promise everything is fine. Perfectly fine."

***

JJ went back upstairs for a quick shower and was back down just in time for the bell to ring. She opened the door with a smile to find Derek, with a huge grin on his face. He was wearing a black muscle shirt and cargo pants. He had a tool-belt in his hand. "Heya lady, I'm here to help you out with the move."

"Thanks Derek, you really didn't have too."

"Nope, I didn't but I am here like I promise didn't know about Emily's moving plans last year but this time we know all about it and I sure as hell ain't gonna let ya do it without me again. I'm good at breaking things down but I'm just as good at building them up again."

"Hey Derek, if she ain't letting you step inside you just push her aside we can use all the help we can get." Emily replied the second she came walking down the stairs with a now dressed Henry.

"Hi Uncle Derek! You here to help?"

"I sure am kiddo. Are you going to help me?"

"Can I use the hammer?" Henry asked while he eyed the tool-belt Derek was holding.

"Ehm ... if we need it, maybe ... but only if your mommies are okay with it."

"Can I? Please, please." He asked while he looked up at his mommies with his big blue innocent eyes.

"Don't use those eyes on me sweetie, they won't work. We'll cross that bridge when we get there." JJ replied to her son's question.

"Bridge, what bridge?" Henry asked in confusion.

"It's a saying, buddy. It means that well make a decision when something needs to be done that requires a hammer. Do you understand what I mean?" Emily explained to Henry while she opened the door for the movers who had just arrived.

"Okay." Henry replied with a big sigh.

At that moment the moving van stopped in front of the house and one of the movers walked up to the door. "Missus Prentiss, Ambassador Prentiss told us that you needed help moving to your new house. I'm David Blake, we've helped the Ambassador move quite a few times though I heard this time it's a little different since you're staying in this area. Where do you want us to start, Missus Prentiss?"

"It's Emily, that's Jayje." Emily answered while she shook David's hand; "We are indeed staying close this time. Okay, the bedrooms upstairs need to be done first. Just follow me."

***

The movers went to work on the big furniture - like the beds and closets upstairs while Derek, JJ and Emily started piling boxes into their own cars. The movers were professionals and extremely fast workers, by the time Emily, JJ and Derek filled their three cars the movers had the moving truck filled as well. Derek had arrived that morning with his truck so he was able to take a lot of boxes with him in one move, while Emily's car was rather useless for moving boxes. So she would take Henry with her while every available space in JJ and Derek's car was put to good use. Emily left first, the movers followed her to the new house where she could direct their furniture to the right places. It was just before noon when they arrived at the new house to their surprise there were a couple of people waiting for them. Garcia, Kevin and Reid where waiting for them at the new house. They all waved happily at the arriving team members.

"You guys, what are you doing here?"

"We're here to help you, duh!" Garcia replied with a roll of her eyes. "What else would we be doing here?"

"You didn't have too, we have movers to help us."

"Well, just an idea here, but I can imagine that you don't want them messing with your shoes, clothes ... or underwear or other stuff for that matter." Garcia answered with an mock innocent smile. "Toys and such..." She added for good measure.

"Right, like we allow you to go through our underwear. Not gonna happen, PG. But we sure can use your help with our regular clothes." Emily replied with a smile, which grew even wider when she noticed the embarrassed look on Kevin's face. He looked up at her and turned a darker shade of red; "Ehm ... I'm just going to see if Derek needs a hand." He said quickly while he turned on his heel and sighed in relief when no one reacted to his comment.

"You told me about the office space you have here with the build it bookcase, I'm just here to sort out all of your books. Derek was right, that is a job I can certainly help with it would be a shame to leave a collection like yours stacked in boxes. Just point me in the right direction."

"You're right about that but in the old house we just didn't have the space to have my whole collection on the shelves. The office is through the hallway and the living room on the left. It has a beautiful build in dark wooden bookcase all along the back-wall of the room. The boxes with most of our books are already in there, we have already moved them here from storage." Emily explained to Reid. The young doctor nodded and made his way inside the house. He smiled when he passed JJ, the blond turned around and watched the young doctor; "Spence, thanks."

"Sure, no problem." Reid turned and smiled at her before he continued on his path, he knew that soon he would be too busy uncovering true literary treasures and that gave him an extra spring in his step. He rounded the corner and stopped for a second, this house was the complete opposite of his own apartment - which was small, dark and filled to the brim with old second hand furniture and books, stacks and stacks of books. This house had a wide open living room, with a beautiful outlook on the garden with a swimming pool and a porch. Natural light filtered in through the windows, he could already see what a beautiful warm family home this would be once the furniture was in place. On his right hand side was the open kitchen area with a breakfast bar and next to it was an open office space with sliding doors - at the moment they were open which gave him the first view of the old wooden bookcase which reminded him of an old library. He literally couldn't wait to fill it up with the huge amount of books he knew Emily had in her possession. All kinds of books in a different languages and styles. He knew that she had a couple of old first editions but also the whole Harry Potter collection. Emily always surprised him, in many ways she was like him but they were also very different part of that was evident by the fact that she and JJ were living together. He had never had someone who understood him like that in his life but he refused to let that thought dampen his mood. He got down on his knees and started to open the first box.

***

Derek had a shadow from the moment he left his car, Henry was running around next to him with his miniature cargo pants and old t-shirt ready to help out his uncle who he clearly looked up to. Derek smiled at him and patiently answered every question Henry fired at him and he gave Henry little tasks which made the boy feel important. Henry was almost bursting with pride when Derek gave him a small light box to carry. According to the directions in JJ's neat handwriting it was something which needed to go in the kitchen. Together they walked into the house and placed the boxes in the kitchen. He was there to do the heavy lifting, so he was just placing boxes where ever they needed to go and returned back to the car to get the next load. He smiled when he saw yet another car park in the cull the sac and he couldn't help the small sigh of relief when he saw that it was Hotch, Rossi and Jack. He loved Henry but right about now he was in serious need of a break and hopefully Jack could provide that break.

"Looks like you got yourself a shadow there, Derek." Rossi answered with a grin.

"Hi Jack! Hi uncle Rossi and uncle Hotch! Uncle Rossi, everyone has a shadow, you do too! There, look behind you." Henry spoke with a confused look on his face while he pointed his finger at the shadow behind Rossi.

Rossi grinned and made a show of looking behind himself to see his own shadow. "Ah, I see. You're right, Henry."

"Hotch, Rossi you're here too?" JJ asked when she came out of the house.

"Yeah, we just arrived. Jack had a soccer match this morning and since Dave and I are his coaches we needed to be there with him. Jack, how about you two go kick the ball around for a bit. I know that JJ was a really good soccer player and I am sure that Henry has learned a trick or two from her." Hotch said while he handed his son the soccer ball.

"That is a really good idea, don't you think so Henry? Why don't you show Jack the backyard. But remember, you two stay away from the pool, okay? And if the ball flies over the fence you come inside and get one of the adults. Do not get the ball on your own."

"Yes, mama we can't go near the pool when there is no adult there with us." Henry replied seriously.

"Common' Jack, let's go!" Henry called out to the older boy.

JJ turned back towards Hotch and Rossi; "Don't worry, we have a glass fence around the pool, Henry can't open the gate. We just want to make sure that he knows the rules."

Hotch smiled; "It's fine, I'm not worried if you're not worried. Jack knows how to swim, he's good at it too."

JJ smiled while she watched the kids run into the house; "Henry's going to have lessons too, once we're moved in and everything has settled down a bit."

"It's best they learn it early on, especially when you have a pool. So tell me, what can I do to help?"

"Well, I was supposed to order some food for the crew. We have a couple of people from the movers company here and the whole team."

Rossi spoke up quickly, it was obvious that he was there because he needed to be there from a moral standpoint but he rather made sure that everyone was fed than moving boxes and furniture around; "We can handle that, I know the perfect place. Let's go."

JJ smiled and watched them go, she shook her head. It was obvious that Rossi already found a task for himself. JJ stepped back into the house and almost ran into Emily. "Oh hey."

"Hi. I thought that you were going out to get something to eat?" Emily asked while she leaned in and gave the blond a kiss. JJ kissed her back a couple of times, small loving kisses.

"I was, but Rossi, Hotch and Jack arrived and you know Rossi. He immediately jumped in when I said that I was going to get something to eat. The kids are in the backyard, Jack just came back from a soccer game they are out there playing with a ball. I know that we are extremely busy and all that and I know that Henry has to learn how to swim first but I would really like it if he could join a soccer team just like Jack. It's so cute to watch kids play soccer, besides it's a good for a kids development."

"And let me guess, you would like to be the coach?"

"Well, sure if they need one I might consider it. After all, I do know the game inside and out."

"And you would love to do it too." Emily smiled; "Besides if Rossi can coach Jack's team you as Henry mom can certainly coach Henry's team."

"Probably, but it's another responsibility I'll be taking on."

"Yeah, but it's also something special, something you can share with Henry.

***

Since their were so many people working in the house, the work was going fast. Faster than anyone could have anticipated beforehand. So after lunch - sandwiches from an Italian bakery nearby which Hotch and Rossi picked up. And coffee because the first working kitchen appliance - which hadn't been installed before they moved in - was of course the coffee-maker because no one on their team could live without the pure black gold. And the movers were no different, each of them drank a good amount of coffee away as well.

The team stayed in the kitchen a little longer while the movers went back to work. Henry's bedroom was done and they were now working on the master-bedroom downstairs. The only thing left was the guest-bedroom upstairs across from Henry's room. Before they could return to the old house to pick up the rest of the furniture."

"Miss Prentiss, all the furniture has been unloaded two of the men will stay here to take care of the guest bedroom upstairs. While we drive back for the rest of the furniture."

"Okay, just let met get my keys and I drive there too."

"Okay, we'll see you there, Missus Prentiss"

"Jayje, honey. The movers are going back to the other house to pick up the second load of furniture."

"Okay, Garcia and I will stay here and unpack our clothes and everything." JJ stepped closer towards her and leaned in to kiss the brunette. "Love you."

"Love you too, babe." Emily answered while she pulled JJ closer to her. She eventually let go, grabbed her keys from the kitchen counter and turned around.

Derek had just rounded the corner and overheard part of the conversation. "You're going back to the house?" He asked while he placed his FBI baseball cap back on his bald head, after he wiped the sweat from his brow.

"Yes, you coming with me?"

"Sure." Derek followed her out to her car and got into the passenger seat. "It's going really well, the move I mean."

"Yes, it is." Emily smiled; "But then again a lot of people are helping us. My parents even wanted to come and help, but I've honestly never seen my mother lift a moving box in her life. And my dad, he has a bad back. There is no way I'm going to allow him to lift anything."

"Nah, you got us to do the heavy lifting, you know we're family. It would be strange if we weren't here." Derek shrugged; "It's just ... It's still a little strange ... I mean, I wish you two would have told us sooner instead of keeping this relationship a secret. It's so obvious that you two belong together we can all see that. Did you not trust us? I'm sorry but I have to know."

Emily's eyes were focused on the road ahead; "I know Derek, I know and I feel so stupid about it, all of it. We should have told you a lot sooner it hurts me to see that you are hurt by my actions but that was never our intention. And I know that sounds like a lame ass excuse but it's the truth. I've never felt this way about anyone, I never had the desire to built a future with someone and then I met Jayje. But she was straight and then she met Will ... she got pregnant ... so I just kept quiet because it felt so useless if I had told her . And then everything changed ... I was afraid. I didn't want to be a rebound for Jayje, cause in all honesty that would have killed me. I didn't want to open my heart and let everyone know how I felt about her since my heart was already so invested in her. Especially since I am the first woman Jayje has dated. There were so many things that kept us from telling you, telling the team. I don't know I guess we were waiting for the right moment or something but there is no such thing as the right moment because there are so many factors that weigh in on a relationship that you're never sure that it'll last or that it will work especially if you also work together and your colleagues are your friends, family even. I've never felt happier than I am feeling now, I have a gorgeous woman, a beautiful boy who calls me his mama and we're moving into our new home." Emily sighed; "God, I feel so weak for not sharing the best thing that happened to me with everyone I love sooner, I can only agree with you ... in hindsight I don't even understand why we didn't tell the team sooner."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to make you feel bad about it."

Emily shrugged; "Nah, it's been bothering me for a while I know that everyone has questions ... even if they don't ask them."

"Was it because of our team?" Derek asked the one question Emily had tried to avoid, she didn't want to make it sound like they were the reason for not telling them.

"Partly, I guess. Yeah, we were both afraid that our relationship would break up the team, but I had promised Jayje that if it came to that I would resign so that she could stay with the team."

"Why? You could fight it or move to a different team. You deserve to be on this team just as much as Jayje does." Derek replied with a raised brow.

"Strauss has never been my biggest fan, especially not since I told her to shove it when she wanted me to spy on Hotch, so fight it seemed like something that would be a waist of time and only prolong the inevitable. If I would go to another team it would probably be easier to take care of Henry but it would also mean that Jayje and I would hardly see each other because we would most likely be on opposite sites of the country and we would never have our down time together. I ... no we decided to keep our relationship a secret and see how things would work out, before we would tell anyone since we didn't want to pull any of you down with us if it came to that." Emily had been serious until this point but she couldn't help but tease Derek a little; "And apparently that worked well, because a whole team of FBI's best profilers didn't figure it out for the longest time."

"Well ha ha ..." Derek replied with a grin; "That whole team of profilers didn't figure it out because they weren't looking for it. I am sure that if we had suspected something we would have been focused on the tiny tiny little details and we would have figured it out just like we do when we're working on a case. The fact that we didn't notice anything just means that we were more focussed on our jobs which is what we're getting paid for after all."

Emily smiled at him while she turned into the street which led her to her soon to be old house and parked the car in front of the house since the moving van was already backed into the drive way; "I guess that you have a point there. Anyway, I want you to know that our choices had nothing to do with any of you. We we're just trying to ... keep everyone safe while we figured out what we had. We knew that we could trust you and that you all would most likely be happy for us but we didn't want to get anyone in trouble with Strauss or anyone else higher up in the chain."

"I know." Was all that Derek said while he got out of the car.

She quickly followed him "Derek, I'm sorry. In hindsight I can only say that I wished I would have done everything differently. I wished I would have told JJ sooner how I felt about her, like when I first met her. Though I didn't want to do anything to risk my job back then ... and if I had then we would have never had Henry. So I guess the way it played out was the way it had to happen, a matter of being at the right place at the right time."

"Hindsight always makes things clearer, things go the way they go. Don't spend too much time looking back or regretting not acting sooner." Derek answered while he waited for Emily to open the door. "Look towards the future that's what's important and it's looking incredibly bright."

The brunette unlocked the door and stepped inside followed by the men. The movers together with Derek and Emily made quick work of the remaining furniture and they returned as soon as they could to the new house where the rest of the team had managed to get a great deal done. Now it was only a matter of getting the last furniture in place and they could call it a night, the rest would have to wait till tomorrow. Everyone was exhausted from dragging boxes and furniture around all day. Emily thanked the movers when they finished and closed the door behind them. She sighed in relief. They were now officially moved into their new house. JJ and Garcia had worked on Henry's room - which was as good as finished, which had been their first priority to make sure that Henry felt home. The rest would come in due time, but his room was important. He had left the only home he ever knew in his life for good and this was going to be the place where he would grow up further from now on.

"Thank you so much for helping us on your day off. I'm so happy that we didn't have to do this alone. I know that there's still a lot to do but I say we drop everything order some food and take seat on the porch." Emily said when she stepped back into the living room where the team was sitting around the kitchen breakfast bar sipping coffee and eating cookies. Henry and Jack had just come back inside after they had been playing outside for most of the afternoon.

"Sounds like a plan." JJ said with a smile to Emily, she leaned in and kissed the older woman. "I love you."

"I love you too." Emily replied softly, she placed her arm loosely around JJ's shoulder and . "Normally I would offer to cook for you all but that's not going to happen today. We definitely need to go to the store tomorrow. How does Thai sound?"

The team agreed to the idea of having something to eat before each of them would go their own way, besides it was a nice afternoon to spend on the sunny back porch. Since Emily was well aware of their teams favourite Chinese food she only had to ask Hotch and Jack what he would like to have before she dialled the number of a nearby Chinese to place the order. They started to arrange the garden furniture on the back porch and JJ poured everyone something to drink and handed juice boxes to Jack and Henry. The boys quickly drank before they once again ran back outside with their soccer ball. They begged the adults to come play with them. Everyone joined in, even though some chose to be spectators or coaches like Garcia, Emily and Rossi. Rossi was coaching both teams at the same time, while Garcia was cheering for both teams. Emily disappeared inside, and returned a little while later with her camera. She started snapping pictures of the group of people they saw as their family. She loved moments like these and regretted that she had kept her relationship with JJ a secret for so long, the famous hindsight was at work once again. She would never make that same mistake again. She pledged to herself that she would never again hide her relationship with JJ.

Emily was lost in her thoughts when she was suddenly tapped on her shoulder; "Give me that! Go join your family." Garcia spoke in a tone of voice which didn't leave any room for discussion. "It doesn't matter if you're any good at soccer, just join them and have fun."

There was really nothing Emily could do except join in, she just handed the camera over to the Tech and made her way down the steps to get onto the grass and join her family in the game. JJ grinned when she saw Emily step onto the grass; "Derek? Your team can have Emily!" She quickly called out with a grin to the other 'team captain'.

"Oh, thank you for the vote of confidence there, Honey." Emily called out to the blond with a mock glare.

"Love you too, sweetheart." JJ replied with a chuckle; "You're with Jack, Kevin and Derek. They need all the help they can get, because Henry, Hotch and I are kicking their asses!"

"You can't say that!" Jack exclaimed in horror.

"Sorry, Jack. You are right about that. I'm sorry." JJ was a typical jock, whenever she was playing a game she was playing hard and forgot simple things like certain words which shouldn't be used around children. Henry wasn't quite aware enough to point out to her that she shouldn't use those words and she wasn't that competitive when it was just them but now - especially with Derek on the other team - that competitive streak came out full force. The fact that Jack was telling her she couldn't use that word seemed to make an impression on JJ.

They kept on playing for a while, till the food arrived. And finally everyone sat down around the large hard wood table which Emily and JJ had purchased for their porch for exactly these reasons. The food was placed on the middle of the table and everyone was enjoying a nice meal while talking about the new house and their plans for the rest of the weekend. They split up after dinner, everyone was going to their own homes while Emily, JJ and Henry got ready for their first night in their new home.

The two women followed Henry upstairs to his brand new room, JJ watched Henry while he brushed his teeth in the bathroom and got dressed in his pyjamas while Emily choose one of his books in his room to read to him. Henry jumped onto the middle of the bed and got settled with a huge grin.

"You ready for your first night in our new home?" Emily asked him while she sat down on the bed next to him and opened the book, JJ mirrored Emily's position on Henry's other side.

"Uhuh, I like it here, can we go swimming tomorrow?"

"We'll have to wait and see. There is a lot we have to do tomorrow because we have to work on Monday but I think that we could go for a swim at least for a little while. But don't worry sweetie, the pool is not going anywhere." JJ replied in answer to her sons question.

"I hope we can."

"I hope so too." JJ agreed with her son, she promised herself that they would have to make time to go swim in their new pool especially with the beautiful weather they were having at the moment.

"Okay, you want to keep talking for a while or do you want a story?" Emily asked the young kid, JJ and she both wanted Henry to be able to make choices. And to do that they wanted to give him a choice whenever he could, they had noticed that Henry loved to have these choices and it seemed to work well.

"Ehm." Henry thought about the choice for a minute before he grinned; "Story please."

"Okay, let me begin at the start." Emily opened the book on the first page of the story and started to read. It didn't take long before Henry's eyes started to droop and within minutes he was out like a light. Which wasn't really surprising since it had been a long and eventful day. JJ and Emily looked at each other over Henry's head, Emily smiled and got up she placed the book back in it's spot and turned back to JJ. The blond was adjusting the blankets around her son, she leaned down and kissed the top of her sons head and got up as well, she opened up the closet and took something out. Emily was surprised to see that it was the old baby monitor JJ used to have when Henry was just born. She raised her brow while she watched JJ set it up in the room. Before she ushered Emily to follow her out of the room.

"Explain please? You haven't used that thing as long as we've been living together." JJ started walking downstairs, Emily followed her.

"I know and normally we don't need it but Emily he's still so little even though he claims to be a big boy and I don't want him to get all riled up if he wakes up and can't remember where he is. You know how he is when he wakes up in the middle of the night. At least this way we'll be able to hear him."

"But we don't use the baby monitor when we stay at your parents house? Or at the Prentiss Mansion."

"No, but the rooms are close together there and we can hear it when Henry wakes up in distress from a bad dream or whatever. Tonight we'll be in our master bedroom downstairs there is a lot of room and walls between our bedroom and Henry's. I just want to make sure that we can hear him when he wakes up."

"That makes sense. I didn't think about that."

"Which is why I did. Let's go to bed." JJ pulled Emily close and wrapped her arms around her. Emily instantly kissed the top of her head. They stood there in the middle of the hallway for a couple of minutes revelling in the warmth of each other's embrace.

***

Emily woke up the next morning, she smiled while she watched JJ next to her still deep in sleep but with a huge smile on her face. The younger woman seemed to be completely relaxed and content, which in turn made Emily feel like this was the perfect home for their little family.

JJ woke up a little while later, she smiled when she noticed that the brunette was watching her. "Why are you watching me?"

"Because I love you."

JJ propped herself up on one elbow and leaned in to kiss the brunette; "I love you too, sweetie."

She wrapped her arm around Emily's torso and laid her head down on the older woman's shoulder. "Did you sleep well?" Emily asked while she played with the blonds hair.

The blond sighed in content; "I sure did. I was exhausted especially after our love making last night, well I was exhausted before we started but ..." She blushed deeply.

"Hmm ... our much needed love making." Emily mused.

"Oh, definitively. I wanted it ... but I can't deny how tired I was."

Emily chuckled at JJ's admission; "So you're telling me that I wore you out?"

"Oh, don't flatter yourself I was exhausted before we started anything and beside that I wasn't the only one who was tired."

Emily rolled her eyes; "Okay, I admit it you wore me out too. Which is why we slept in late."

"We did?" JJ asked in surprise, she honestly had no idea what time it was. She figured that it was rather early since she hadn't heard a single sound from the baby monitor.

"Yeah, it's ten thirty." Emily answered with a smile to the younger woman who was obviously unaware of the time.

"Really?" JJ pushed herself up again and took a glance at the alarm clock on Emily's bedside table. "Oh wow, it is. Have you heard Henry, is he awake?"

"Well, I heard him shifting in his bed just after I woke up and he mumbled something but that was followed by a couple of snores within seconds so I guess he's still sleeping. We would have heard him through the baby monitor if he was up."

JJ placed her head back on Emily's shoulder and stayed there for a while, he breathing had evened out so much that Emily wondered if she'd fallen asleep again. "Are you asleep?" She asked softly.

"No, just really relaxed."

"Good. How about I drive down to that bakery we saw and get something to eat while you wake Henry up and get dressed?"

"Sounds like a plan ... oh wait ... I think Henry's up." JJ said while she listened to the sounds on the baby monitor.

"Yes, he's definitively up." Emily replied with a smile when they could hear him stumbling out of his bed probably still sleep-drunk. Not a minute later they could hear the door close and JJ quickly reached over to turn the baby monitor off knowing that Henry wouldn't like it one bit because it was something they use for baby's and he was a big boy now. They both waited for what was to come even if they knew exactly what would happen. They heard him tip toe towards their door over the hard wood floors and then there was the tiniest of knocks - probably because Henry didn't want to wake them up. It was his new thing if his mommies weren't awake he would go back to his room and play for a while or turn on the television.

"Henry, we're awake. You can come in." Emily called out to the boy and the door opened immediately. Both women were glad that they had been able to instil the importance of privacy on him. When they switched his crib to a bed the first thing he had done in the morning would be to throw open their door and jump onto the bed. Nowadays however he would knock on the door, wait for an answer before throwing the door open and jumping on the bed. So it was no real surprise when he used the distance from the door to the bed in preparation for his jump. He dropped onto the bed between them, thanks to JJ's quick roll to the side away from Emily, because otherwise he probably would have fallen on top of her. Henry erupted in loud laughter when he landed in the center of the bed.

***

"Henry, can you come here please?" Emily called out to the little boy who was playing with his cars on the floor in the living room. Emily who was upstairs could hear Henry get up and run across the floor until he reached the stairs.

"Are you upstairs, mama?"

"Yes, I am. Get up here." Emily called out again.

She could hear Henry stumbling up the stairs, she smiled when he rounded the corner to his new room. Henry grinned, when he noticed the items Emily was holding in her hands. "Swimming? Yes, finally!"

"Yes, we're going for a swim. So which trunks do you want?"

"The black one with the fishies!" Henry said when he noticed the shorts with the brightly colored cartoon fishies on them.

Emily smiled, it was the answer she'd expected from him. She placed the black ones on the bed, and the red trunks back in the closet. "Okay, get dressed in these and we'll see you downstairs." Emily grabbed the floatation vest which they bought for Henry and took it downstairs with her. JJ was in the kitchen preparing a light lunch for the three of them, so that they could take a break from unpacking. Have something to eat, and go for a swim. Emily already had her bikini on but was still wearing a tank top and shorts on top of it. "Henry's putting on his swim trunks, let me finish this so you can get your bikini on as well." Emily leaned in and kissed the curve of JJ's neck.

The blonde leaned into Emily's body, obviously enjoying the kiss but trying not to give in. She had her eyes closed and bit her lip; "You shouldn't tease me." Her tone of voice was soft, barely audible.

"I'm not teasing you. I would never tease you, not about this."

"Yes, you are."

"Am not!"

"Yes, you are when you kiss me like that knowing that Henry will be down here probably within a matter of seconds." JJ had her eyes still closed and she was still leaning against Emily. "Yup, you are very mean since I hear Henry on the stairs." JJ confirmed when she was able to hear Henry on the stairs.

"I'll make it up to you, I promise." Emily spoke softly while she stepped away from JJ. The brunette started to take over the preparations of their lunch.

"You better." JJ answered.

"I'm ready!" Henry called out with a huge grin on his face, his brand new swim trunks.

"Good, so am I but I don't think your mommy is."

"Mommy, get ready!" Henry exclaimed loudly in protest when he noticed that his mother indeed didn't have a bikini on, in fact she was still dressed in the same clothes she'd worn when they were unpacking their belongings.

"See Jayje, you should have followed my advice and get dressed for an afternoon in the pool." Emily - who had finished the sandwiches - knelled down to put a thin layer of sunscreen on Henry's exposed skin to make sure that he would be protected from the sun. JJ rolled her eyes and made her way to the hallway.

The brunette had seen JJ's eye role and smiled while she watched her retreat from the kitchen through the living room into the hallway. "Okay, you're dressed in your swim trunks, you got your sunscreen on. We're almost ready, we're going to eat a small lunch before we dive in. Can you take this outside with you?" Emily asked Henry while she handed him the napkins and plates." Put it on the table on the porch. We'll have something to eat before we go for a swim."

"Okay." Henry answered with a deep sigh; "but only a little bit to eat."

"That depends on how much hunger we have. Henry, the pool is here to stay. So don't worry you'll have enough time to swim." Emily replied when she noticed Henry's annoyance over the fact that they were going to have lunch before they where going to swim. She washed her hands at the sink before she continued working on their lunch.

Emily grabbed the pitcher with lemon juice from the fridge and a couple of glasses from the cabinet and made her way onto the porch where she placed them on the table. Emily stepped back inside to grab the plate with the sandwiches and a bowl with of mixed fruit. "Jayje you better get out here, your son is getting really impatient." She called out to her lover, who still hadn't reappeared from the bed room.

"So, now he's my son ..." JJ asked with a raised brow when she rounded the corner into the living room and noticed that Emily was standing by the sliding doors which led onto their porch.

The brunette smiled at the blond; "Wow, I like that bikini. You look absolutely beautiful." Emily spoke in awe when she noticed the blue bikini which complimented the bright blue of JJ's eyes. "Absolutely beautiful."

"Why thank you, Emily. You look really beautiful too, but you will look even more beautiful when you take off that tank top and those shorts." JJ took the bowl of fruit from Emily's hands.

"I will. Don't worry, I will once were done with our lunch. Which we better have right about now before Henry freaks out even more." Emily spoke softly to make sure that Henry didn't hear her. Before she leaned in and kissed the blond, Emily took JJ's hand in her own and pulled the blond with her outside. The brunette grinned when she saw Henry roll his eyes. "Impatient little ..."

JJ burst out laughing at Emily's comment and Henry's eye roll, which she just caught the end of. "Let's eat quickly." JJ said between laughs while she took over and pulled Emily towards the table. The brunette who had been balancing the plate with the sandwiches finally placed them on the table

Henry ate is sandwich as fast as he could and he refused to have another one. Even when JJ told him that he had to wait till they finished their meal as well. Eventually Emily gave in she could no longer look at Henry with his little thundercloud face. She got up and pulled her tank top out over her head and placed it on the back of her chair, her shorts followed quickly; "Are you ready?" She asked the little boy, who immediately jumped up and nodded his head eagerly. "Good, come over here." Emily knelled down to help him with the swim vest she brought downstairs with her earlier. It was a thin vest which would not stop Henry from moving around while it would keep him safe at the same time. "Can you move?"

Henry wiggled around, raised his arms and dropped them down again; "Yes, I can still move."

"Good, it's important to be able to move when you want to swim."

"Do I have to wear this like forever?" Henry asked pointing to the swim vest.

"For now, yes you have to. When you're able to swim by yourself you don't have to wear it. But you always have to ask one of us to go with you for a swim."

"Yes, because those are the rules."

"Yes, exactly." Emily opened the gate to the swimming pool and stepped inside. "Ready?"

"Yes, I'm ready."

"Perfect, you see this side of the pool is the side where can easily get in and out. That side is the deep end of the pool. So what do you want to do, get in little by little and take the stairs or do you want to jump in?" Emily explained to Henry, she had knelled down to make sure that he was paying attention to her explanation since it was such an important subject. Unknown to Emily and Henry, JJ had gone inside to grab her camera and the blond had been snapping pictures of them.

She had returned and was now standing at the gate, she was taking her distance while she was close enough to hear what Emily was saying to her son.

Henry bit his lip and thought for a couple of seconds before he answered the question; "Jump in!"

"Really, it might be cold! Are you sure?"

"Yes, jump in and make a big splash!"

"Okay, just give me a second." Emily got into the pool and dipped her head under the surface of the water and pushed her long dark hair backwards. "Okay, jump." The brunette had barely spoken the words when Henry jumped forward and with a big splash he landed in the pool. For a second he disappeared beneath the surface but reappeared just as quickly thanks to the vest he was wearing. He had a huge grin on his face and he erupted in loud giggles. He started splashing around in the water, Emily joined in but all in all it didn't take long before they found a different target, a target who wasn't in the pool. JJ who was filming them was their next target. The blond couldn't stop the scream when the first badge of cold water hit her. She quickly placed her camera on the table and returned to the swimming pool. She quickly jumped in at the deep end and joined in on the fun. 


End file.
